How the blockchain changes AI

The blockchain is touted as an emerging technology that has the potential to impact every industry. The distributed system of blockchains is in opposition to the inherently centralized operating systems used today. In the form of a distributed database architecture, the logging and authentication of certain operations depends on multiple protocols, not just a single privilege.

Blockchain makes operations safer, faster, and more transparent than other centralized technologies.

Blockchain has already had a big impact on the financial sector, and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin have become current concerns. The technology has now expanded into other areas such as advertising, healthcare, commercial logistics, security and more.

Researchers are currently working on deeper areas to try to integrate blockchain into more complex areas of technology such as big data, the Internet of Things, and most importantly artificial intelligence.

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a general term for a subset of technologies that robots can work more independently and efficiently in related fields. From speech pattern recognition to driverless, the goal of artificial intelligence is to let the machine learn and apply the knowledge gathered from a large data stream to make it more intelligent.

Artificial intelligence and blockchain merging

Blockchains focus on maintaining accurate records, authentication, and execution, while artificial intelligence helps to make decisions, evaluate and understand certain patterns and data sets, and ultimately create autonomous interactions. The combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain has several features that ensure seamless interaction in the near future. Three main features are listed below.

I. Artificial intelligence and blockchain require data sharing

Distributed databases emphasize the importance of sharing data between multiple clients on a particular network. Similarly, artificial intelligence relies on big data, especially data sharing. The more open data available for analysis, the more predictable and evaluated the machine will be, and the resulting algorithms will be more reliable.

II. Security

When dealing with high-value transactions on a blockchain network, this places great demands on the security of the network. This can be implemented through existing agreements. For artificial intelligence, machine autonomy also requires high security to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic events.

III. Trust is a necessary condition

There is no greater threat to the advancement of any widely accepted technology than lack of trust, nor does it rule out artificial intelligence and blockchain. In order to make communication between machines more convenient, you need to have an expected level of trust. Trust is a necessary condition in order to perform certain transactions on a blockchain network.

Case: Artificial intelligence-centric blockchain technology for healthcare that increases the transparency and flexibility of the process.

The above image shows several examples of artificial intelligence and blockchain with the same characteristics. Now, we can continue to understand how the blockchain changes artificial intelligence.

Open data market

As mentioned earlier, advances in artificial intelligence technology depend on the availability of data from a variety of sources. Although companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. can access a large number of artificial intelligence data sources, which are useful for most artificial intelligence applications, they are not directly accessible in the data market.

The blockchain is designed to solve this problem by introducing the concept of point-to-point connections. Because it is an open distributed registry, everyone on the network can access the data. The existing data oligopoly is coming to an end, and a new era of open and free data is coming.

Large-scale data management mechanism

Even if data is already open to everyone, managing data is another obstacle. The amount of data currently available is approximately 1.3 Zebytes. A sub-area of artificial intelligence is called Artificial General Intelligence, which builds a model of a feedback control system that helps autonomous agents interact better with the physical environment.

Distributed systems with large amounts of data storage offer several advantages over traditional central storage centers. In the event of a crisis or natural disaster, data is not stored in a single location, so data can be protected. In addition, the network is hacked, which makes the data set less susceptible to partial damage.

More reliable artificial intelligence modeling and predictio

A basic principle of computer systems is GIGO: Garbage comes in. The field of artificial intelligence relies heavily on a large amount of data flow. Some individuals or companies deliberately tamper with the data provided in anticipation of changing the results. Garbage data may also be caused by unexpected failures of sensors and other data sources.

By creating parts of a validated database, you can successfully build a model and implement it only on validated data sets. This will detect any failures or unexpected conditions in the data supply chain. It also helps reduce the stress of troubleshooting and finding anomalous data sets because the data stream is partially available. Finally, blockchain is synonymous with immutability, which means data is traceable and censorable.

Control over the use of data and models

This is a very important aspect of integrating blockchain and artificial intelligence. For example, when you log in to Facebook and Twitter, you will give up the right to upload resources to their platform. The same thing happens when the singer signs the record agreement. The same concept can also be applied to artificial intelligence data and models.

When creating data for modeling, you can specify a license with restrictions or licenses. Blockchain makes this process relatively easy.

The authority to view or use data in a blockchain network is considered an asset. Just as coins can be delivered on a cryptocurrency platform, these permissions to access network information can also be passed.

Case: The artificial intelligence market developed by SingularityNET, a blockchain artificial intelligence platform, is an open source protocol and a collection of distributed market intelligence contracts that coordinate artificial intelligence services. The team said that due to its trading and bookkeeping advantages, the blockchain provides an ideal tool for managing online transactions on SingularityNET. The platform allows the addition of artificial intelligence services to be used, supporting transactions between the network and receiving network payment tokens. However, first, a blockchain-based framework must be designed to allow interaction between artificial intelligence agents and external users. The figure below shows the advanced network architecture diagram.

Image Source

With this, you can control the use of data on any data set. For industries that need privacy, this technology can come in handy. Since these two technologies are currently in a leading position in almost all industrial sectors, the synergy between these two areas will bring greater benefits. The future of artificial intelligence is inevitably a distributed operating system, the interaction between machines will get better, and we can better model human activities.