The next big thing in Blockchain and AI integration?

Lightchain AI merges blockchain and AI to tackle key challenges like bias, scalability, and transparency, with its PoI consensus and AIVM.

Blockchain and AI are both phenomenal technologies, and the combination of these two holds the power to bring impactful change in the world. But just as there are opportunities, there are also several obstacles along this intertwined path. 

The first significant issue is that most AI systems are centralized and cannot be trusted with sensitive information. There’s certainly a possibility of data breaches and misuse. Second is the problem of bias. Most AI systems reflect the biases of their creators. A good example is how OpenAI’s ChatGPT responds to different political questions. A heavy bias is present in most, if not all, of the large LLMs that exist today. This is why governance and voting on the path forward of these models is important in maintaining a free and open ecosystem that isn’t bound by VCs and governments.

Another problem is scalability. This issue seems to plague both AI and blockchain alike. And last but not least, there’s the lack of transparency. AI, unlike blockchain, is often not transparent, which discourages tech enthusiasts.  

However, there’s a new project at the intersection of blockchain and AI that addresses all of these issues — Lightchain AI. Let’s assess this project to learn more about its merits and demerits. 

Overview

Website: Lightchain AI

Blockchain: Lightchain AI blockchain  

Sector: AI and blockchain 

Token: LCAI

What is Lightchain AI?

Lightchain AI is a decentralized platform that integrates AI with blockchain. And it does this with the help of two programs. One is the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine (AIVM), and the second is Proof of Intelligence (PoI). 

With the help of these two solutions, Lightchain AI aims to solve the scalability, privacy, and trust problems that currently exist in the crypto blockchain space. It also strives to help eradicate bias from AI models and LLMs.

The team at Lightchain AI states that the platform provides an equitable, efficient, and privacy-preserving ecosystem for developers and participants. Let’s take a look at its features to gauge if these claims are true.

Features

Proof of Intelligence

Proof of Intelligence is a consensus mechanism made to reward nodes for both providing resources to contribute to AI-intensive tasks as well as solving blocks. How does it differ from the popular Proof of Work or environment-conscious Proof of Stake? PoI gives incentives for contributions to AI development in the ecosystem.

How does it work? First, the participating nodes receive modular AI tasks, according to their power level. Tasks include activities such as training machine learning models or running inference operations. Next, the nodes execute these tasks and produce cryptographic proofs, such as Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). 

Then, the network checks these submissions using metrics such as accuracy or efficiency. Once these are validated, nodes are rewarded with Lightchain tokens.

This method has a whole list of benefits. It is energy efficient, scalable and provides opportunities for nodes of different sizes and power capacities to take part. 

Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine

According to the Lightchain AI whitepaper, the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine is a “specialized virtual machine that optimizes the execution of AI-specific tasks within the Lightchain AI ecosystem.”

Basically, it’s a tool that has been built to handle complex AI tasks on the blockchain. This AI layer helps AI integrate well with blockchain, so that the whole program works in a smooth and effective manner. 

The AIVM also creates a secure and scalable environment for running AI models. This model even works with popular AI frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. But, what’s most striking about this AI layer is that it is capable of evolving through the collaborative efforts of developers.

In short, the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine works like the heart of the ecosystem, pumping lifeblood to all the different parts of the system to make sure it’s all alive and kicking. 

Tokenomics

The Lightchain Token (LCAI) is the token of the Lightchain AI ecosystem. This token is mainly used for three key purposes: Payment for AI tasks, staking for governance participation and access to premium AIVM features.

The token distribution is carefully planned to support growth and avoid centralization. The total supply of tokens is allocated across different areas (see picture below).

• 40% of the tokens (4 billion LCAI) are reserved for the presale.
• 28.5% (2.85 billion LCAI) is dedicated to staking and rewards.
• 15% (1.5 billion LCAI) is set aside for liquidity and exchange listings.
• 6.5% (650 million LCAI) goes to the treasury and reserve.
• 5% (500 million LCAI) is allocated to the team.
• Another 5% (500 million LCAI) is for marketing and partnerships with Key Opinion Leaders.

Lightchain AI also uses a smart economic design. When it comes to inflation control, initial inflation rates fund early ecosystem growth but decrease over time. The token burning mechanism is deflationary where a portion of transaction fees and AI task payments is burned. When it comes to pricing, gas fees for computational tasks are calculated dynamically based on task complexity and network load.

Roadmap

The Lightchain AI roadmap works in three key phases. 

In Phase 1 (Prototype Development), the team focuses on building the Proof of Intelligence consensus and Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine. They also work on governance structures and community engagement. 

In Phase 2 (Testnet Rollout), the team conducts testnet deployment, performance optimization, and feedback gathering. The Testnet will act as a playground for developers who wish to perform bug bounties and other types of developer initiatives.

Finally, in Phase 3 (Mainnet Launch), the team conducts the full activation of PoI and AIVM, and uses Validator and Contributor nodes. They also aim for partnership expansion.

Currently, the team is in the Phase 1 phase of the roadmap.

Pros and cons

With its real-world utility, deflationary tokenomics and smart integration of AI with blockchain, Lightchain AI undoubtedly has a whole list of pros that attract both developers and investors looking for the next big thing. 

But are there any cons? While both the AIVM and PoI are exceptional feats of technology, they do appear to be overly complex. 

Lightchain’s PoI sits at the core of dividing work between nodes that join the network from computational AI tasks and solving blocks. The AVIM is a decentralized autonomous organization, which is similar to the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). However, the AVIM is upgraded and voted on based on the holder’s LCAI. 

While PoW and PoS offer rewards to miners who either stake ETH or provide resources, PoI solves two issues: an upgradable AIVM that is not static, and it resolves the centralization of the EVM  by providing an AVIM, which is voted on upgrades by the token holders.

Conclusion

Lightchain AI is a blockchain ecosystem that runs on artificial intelligence. With smart solutions like the PoI Consensus and the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine (AIVM), the Lightchain AI team aims to create a more fair, open, and free AI model. Currently in its presale, the project is gaining considerable traction both on social media and in mainstream media. 

For more information about Lightchain AI, read the Lightchain AI Whitepaper, engage with the team on X, and Telegram, and check out its official website.