Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto group over the week outlined 11 areas the place blockchain networks may intersect with synthetic intelligence, laying out how crypto instruments would possibly form id, funds, and possession as AI programs unfold throughout the web.
The agency framed crypto much less as a speculative asset class and extra as infrastructure that might counter rising centralization in AI by giving customers management over knowledge, id, and financial participation.
a16z Lays Out Use Instances as AI Energy Concentrates
In a January 20 publish on X, a16z crypto argued that the online is transferring towards interfaces dominated by AI prompts, elevating questions on who controls knowledge, distribution, and income as conventional web sites lose site visitors.
The agency stated blockchains can present a impartial base layer for AI programs by supporting persistent person context, transportable identities for AI brokers, and on-chain funds that work with out platform gatekeepers.
A number of of the concepts centered on id and belief, with one instance being decentralized proof of personhood, which goals to assist platforms distinguish people from bots with out counting on centralized ID suppliers.
The publish pointed to present tasks resembling World’s Proof of Human and newer programs just like the Solana Attestation Service, which lets customers hyperlink off-chain credentials to wallets whereas retaining knowledge personal.
Funds have been one other recurring theme. a16z described how blockchains may assist micropayments between AI brokers, content material creators, and finish customers. That features income sharing when AI instruments depend on third-party content material, in addition to programs the place net crawlers pay websites straight for entry to knowledge.
The agency famous that almost half of web site visitors now comes from automated sources, whereas extra web site operators are blocking AI scrapers, a pressure that has pushed firms like Cloudflare to promote blocking instruments.
The publish additionally highlighted decentralized bodily infrastructure networks, or DePIN, as a strategy to pool unused compute and power assets for AI coaching and inference. By aggregating {hardware} from gaming PCs and knowledge facilities, these networks goal to scale back reliance on giant cloud suppliers.
Why Id, Funds, and Possession Hold Resurfacing
Most of the concepts echoed considerations raised elsewhere within the crypto trade. For instance, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin not too long ago stated that he plans to go away centralized social media behind in favor of decentralized platforms, arguing that shared knowledge layers permit competitors with out locking customers right into a single interface. His feedback mirrored a broader push to separate id and content material from platform management.
The Ethereum Basis has additionally moved on this path. Final 12 months, it launched a brand new AI group centered on agentic funds and coordination, with the acknowledged aim of creating Ethereum a settlement layer for AI brokers and machine-to-machine transactions. Basis developer Davide Crapis stated on the time that AI programs want impartial infrastructure for worth switch and popularity, somewhat than counting on a number of giant expertise corporations.
a16z’s map doesn’t declare these programs are near mass adoption. A number of use instances, together with AI companions owned by customers or absolutely open agent-to-agent markets, are described as longer-term concepts. Nonetheless, the agency’s define exhibits the place traders and builders suppose crypto may match as AI programs transfer from remoted instruments into always-on intermediaries between individuals, knowledge, and cash.
The publish a16z Maps 11 Paths The place Crypto Meets AI appeared first on CryptoPotato.