One post tagged with "crypto"

Artificial intelligence is reshaping our digital world. From efficient coding assistants to powerful content generation engines, AI's potential is evident. However, as the open internet is gradually being replaced by individual "prompt boxes," a fundamental question confronts us: Will AI lead us toward a more open internet, or toward a maze controlled by a few giants and filled with new paywalls?

Control—that's the core issue. Fortunately, when one powerful centralizing force emerges, another decentralizing force also matures. This is where crypto comes in.

Blockchain is not just about digital currency; it's a new architectural paradigm for building internet services—a decentralized, trustless neutral network that can be collectively owned by users. It provides us with a powerful set of tools to counter the increasingly centralized trend of AI models, renegotiate the economics underpinning today's systems, and ultimately achieve a more open and robust internet.

This idea is not new, but it's often vaguely defined. To make the conversation more concrete, we explore 11 application scenarios that are already being explored in practice. These scenarios are rooted in technologies being built today, demonstrating how crypto can address the most pressing challenges brought by AI.

Part One: Identity—Reshaping Our "Existence" in the Digital World​

In a digital world where robots and humans are increasingly indistinguishable, "who you are" and "what you can prove" become crucial.

1. Persistent Context in AI Interactions​

Problem: Current AI tools suffer from "amnesia." Every time you open a new ChatGPT session, you must retell it your work background, programming preferences, and communication style. Your context is trapped in isolated applications and cannot be ported.

Crypto Solution: Store user context (such as preferences, knowledge bases) as persistent digital assets on the blockchain. Users own and control this data and can authorize any AI application to load it at the start of a session. This not only enables seamless cross-platform experiences but also allows users to directly monetize their expertise.

2. Universal Identity for AI Agents​

Problem: When AI agents begin executing tasks on our behalf (bookings, trading, customer service), how will we identify them, pay them, and verify their capabilities and reputation? If each agent's identity is tied to a single platform, its value will be greatly diminished.

Crypto Solution: Create a blockchain-based "universal passport" for each AI agent. This passport integrates wallet, API registry, version history, and reputation system. Any interface (email, Slack, another agent) can parse and interact with it in the same way, building a permissionless, composable agent ecosystem.

3. Future-Proof "Proof of Personhood"​

Problem: Deepfakes, bot armies on social media, fake accounts on dating apps... AI proliferation is eroding our trust in online authenticity.

Crypto Solution: Decentralized "proof of personhood" mechanisms (like World ID) allow users to prove they are unique humans while protecting privacy. This proof is self-custodied by users, reusable across platforms, and future-compatible. It can clearly separate human networks from machine networks, laying the foundation for more authentic and secure digital experiences.

Part Two: Decentralized Infrastructure—Laying Tracks for Open AI​

AI's intelligence depends on the physical and digital infrastructure behind it. Decentralization is key to ensuring these infrastructures are not monopolized by a few.

4. Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) for AI​

Problem: AI progress is constrained by computational power and energy bottlenecks, with these resources firmly controlled by a few hyperscale cloud providers.

Crypto Solution: DePIN aggregates underutilized physical resources globally through incentive mechanisms—from amateur gamers' PCs to idle chips in data centers. This creates a permissionless, distributed computational market that greatly lowers the barrier to AI innovation and provides censorship resistance.

5. Infrastructure and Guardrails for AI Agent Interactions​

Problem: Complex tasks often require collaboration among multiple specialized AI agents. However, they mostly operate in closed ecosystems, lacking open interaction standards and markets.

Crypto Solution: Blockchain can provide an open, standardized "track" for agent interactions. From discovery and negotiation to payment, the entire process can be automatically executed on-chain through smart contracts, ensuring AI behavior aligns with user intent without human intervention.

6. Keeping AI-Coded Applications in Sync​

Problem: AI enables anyone to quickly build customized software ("Vibe coding"). But this brings new chaos: when thousands of constantly changing custom applications need to communicate with each other, how do we ensure they remain compatible?

Crypto Solution: Create a "synchronization layer" on the blockchain. This is a shared, dynamically updated protocol that all applications can connect to maintain compatibility with each other. Through crypto-economic incentives, developers and users are encouraged to collectively maintain and improve this sync layer, forming a self-growing ecosystem.

Part Three: New Economics and Incentive Models—Reshaping Value Creation and Distribution​

AI is disrupting the existing internet economy. Crypto provides a toolkit to realign incentive mechanisms, ensuring fair compensation for all contributors in the value chain.

7. Revenue-Sharing Micropayments​

Problem: AI models create value by learning from vast amounts of internet content, but the original content creators receive nothing. Over time, this will stifle the creative vitality of the open internet.

Crypto Solution: Establish an automated attribution and revenue-sharing system. When AI behavior occurs (such as generating a report or facilitating a transaction), smart contracts can automatically pay a tiny fee (micropayment or nanopayment) to all information sources it referenced. This is economically viable because it leverages low-cost blockchain technologies like Layer 2.

8. Registry for Intellectual Property (IP) and Provenance​

Problem: In an era where AI can instantly generate and remix content, traditional IP frameworks seem inadequate.

Crypto Solution: Use blockchain as a public, immutable IP registry. Creators can clearly establish ownership and set rules for licensing, remixing, and revenue sharing through programmable smart contracts. This transforms AI from a threat to creators into a new opportunity for value creation and distribution.

9. Making Web Crawlers Pay for Data​

Problem: AI companies' web crawlers freely scrape website data, consuming website owners' bandwidth and computational resources without compensation. In response, website owners are beginning to block these crawlers en masse.

Crypto Solution: Establish a dual-track system: AI crawlers pay fees to websites through on-chain negotiations when scraping data. Meanwhile, human users can verify their identity through "proof of personhood" and continue accessing content for free. This both compensates data contributors and protects the human user experience.

10. Tailored and Non-"Creepy" Privacy-Preserving Advertising​

Problem: Today's advertising is either irrelevant or unsettling due to excessive user data tracking.

Crypto Solution: Users can authorize their AI agents to use privacy technologies like zero-knowledge proofs to prove certain attributes to advertisers without revealing personal identity. This makes advertising highly relevant and useful. In return, users can receive micropayments for sharing data or interacting with ads, transforming the current "extractive" advertising model into a "participatory" one.

Part Four: Owning the Future of AI—Ensuring Control Remains with Users​

As our relationship with AI becomes increasingly personal and profound, questions of ownership and control become critical.

11. Human-Owned and Controlled AI Companions​

Problem: In the near future, we will have infinitely patient, highly personalized AI companions (for education, healthcare, emotional support). But who will control these relationships? If companies hold control, they can censor, manipulate, or even delete your AI companion.

Crypto Solution: Host AI companions on censorship-resistant decentralized networks. Users can truly own and control their AI through their own wallets (thanks to account abstraction and key technologies, the barrier to use has been greatly reduced). This means your relationship with AI will be permanent and inalienable.

Conclusion: Building the Future We Want​

The convergence of AI and crypto is not merely the combination of two hot technologies. It represents a fundamental choice about the future form of the internet: Do we move toward a closed system controlled by a few companies, or toward an open ecosystem collectively built and owned by all its participants?

These 11 application scenarios are not distant fantasies; they are directions being actively explored by the global developer community—including many builders at Cuckoo Network. The road ahead is full of challenges, but the tools are already in our hands. Now, it's time to start building.