As OpenAI and Google, among other tech giants, make breakthroughs in the field of AI, global attention to AI technology has reached an unprecedented level. However, in this wave of innovation, we also have to face a serious reality: tech giants, with their strong capital and advanced hardware, have almost monopolized the development of AI technology, leading to users increasingly being subject to their power.
At the same time, the combination of AI and Web3 is seen as a potentially huge new trend, which is expected to break the existing pattern and inject new vitality into the development of AI technology. However, how to continuously improve the deep learning capabilities of AI while ensuring the security of creators' digital property rights has become an urgent problem to be solved.
It is in this context that KIP Protocol, the first decentralized Web3 underlying protocol dedicated to AI, has emerged. It is committed to deeply integrating decentralization and AI technology.
Recently, ChainCatcher invited Julian Peh, co-founder and CEO of KIP Protocol, to discuss how KIP Protocol is bringing new possibilities to the development of "AI+Crypto".
Julian Peh graduated from the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore and joined ADITUS Network as a co-founder in 2017, marking his first foray into the crypto field. Subsequently, as a continuous entrepreneur in the Web3 field, he established Immersion, a Web3 investment consulting company, and as an investor, he successively invested in fintech company TranSwap and AI consulting company Eigenform.
In April last year, Julian Peh co-founded KIP Protocol with Dr. Jennifer Dodgson, co-founder and Chief AI Strategist of KIP.
On February 1st this year, KIP Protocol announced the completion of a strategic financing round led by Animoca Ventures, with participation from B.Army (Vietnam), CSP DAO (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), MQdao, Spicy Capital (Latin America), Skyvision Capital (Hong Kong), and Purechain Capital (UK).
Recently, KIP Protocol announced its official AI partnership with the education platform Open Campus, where they will explore the application of blockchain and AI in the education field, simplifying the delivery of educational content and monetization of intellectual property. Additionally, KIP Protocol has formed a strategic partnership with Aethir to jointly promote the decentralization of AI and GPU processes. KIP will provide data and payment infrastructure for Aethir's AI ecosystem, while Aethir will provide enterprise-level decentralized GPU computing capabilities for KIP. More details of the collaboration will be announced in the coming weeks.
I. Entrepreneurial Veteran: Crossing from Law to Web3
ChainCatcher: We know that law, blockchain, and even AI may seem worlds apart. What prompted you to enter the Web3 field and become a serial entrepreneur?
Julian Peh: My entrepreneurial journey began in the Web1 era of the 1990s, the early stage of the internet. The company I founded eventually grew into the largest media and advertising technology company serving luxury brands in the Asia-Pacific region. Another was a data analytics startup serving credit card companies and regional banks.
By 2016, I had successfully exited and sold all media and technology companies, transitioning into a VC/PE investor focusing on cutting-edge technologies, including Web3, robotics, and AI. In the field of AI investment, I invested in Eigenform, founded by Dr. Jennifer Dodgson.
Fortunately, I entered the Web3 field relatively early in 2016 and began collaborating with key industry participants, one of which was Animoca. This led me to create Immersion, a Web3 consulting company focused on providing research and communication services to top Web3 venture capital firms, such as Animoca Ventures.
ChainCatcher: What prompted you to establish KIP Protocol?
Julian Peh: Our team officially entered the AI field in 2019, and Jennifer is a highly influential researcher in machine learning and natural language processing. Before founding KIP Protocol, we co-founded a consulting company focused on providing AI solutions to governments and international organizations, serving clients such as the World Bank, Adam Smith Center, Swatch Group, and LVMH.
In 2022, while providing AI consulting services to Web3 clients, we found that there were no comprehensive decentralized tools in the market to protect the data security and digital property rights of AI creators. Combined with our years of senior development experience and top client relationships in the AI race, KIP Protocol was born.
KIP not only provides digital property protection for model creators, data providers, and app developers, but also builds a powerful infrastructure and data/payment network, enabling these AI creators to efficiently deploy and monetize their work with the power of Web3.
Without solutions like KIP, the entire AI industry could fall completely under the control of big tech companies. We firmly believe that the development of AI should benefit everyone, not just a few giants. Therefore, we created KIP and promoted the development of decentralized AI to counter the increasingly intensifying AI monopolies.
Why is this so important? Because AI affects everyone and everything, and we need to ensure that everyone can benefit from it.
II. KIP Protocol Focuses on the Fusion of "AI+Crypto" to Empower DeAI Technology Trends
ChainCatcher: How should we understand the KIP Protocol project?
Julian Peh: KIP Protocol is focused on the Web3 foundational layer for AI, enabling model designers, data providers, and app developers to own their AI assets and efficiently monetize their work through KIP.
KIP has been exploring the implementation of decentralized Retrieval-Augmented Generation (dRAG), and some key achievements in this area won the Tencent Cloud Award at the 2023 Chainlink Fall Hackathon.
We are committed to making KIP an indispensable infrastructure tool for AI creators to conduct commercial operations in the Web3 world.
ChainCatcher: How does KIP Protocol differ from other Web3 products with the concept of AI, and how does it truly achieve "AI+Crypto"?
Julian Peh: In the field of DeAI, most projects propose novel solutions, but they mainly focus on specific areas. No project has a comprehensive approach to address the three main issues of DeAI: connectivity, deployment, and monetization, but KIP does. We successfully deployed the first decentralized RAG (dRAG).
Through dRAG, KIP enables various AI model and data owners to directly connect in the DeAI ecosystem, achieve a more secure data retrieval process, and fairly distribute income to all AI creators.
KIP has decentralized the functionality, security, and economic viability of AI applications. This innovation is of great significance for driving the development of artificial intelligence in fields such as DeFi, content creation, education, and healthcare.
KIP allows AI products to be quickly deployed in Web3. Without real products and users being able to deploy in Web3, the dream of DeAI will remain just a dream, and KIP is driving the formation of DeAI.
III. Supporting Decentralized RAG to Empower the AI Data Field
ChainCatcher: As the first to support a decentralized Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solution, how can we better understand the concept of RAG?
Julian Peh: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is an advanced technology in AI that enhances the capabilities of generative models by integrating them with external knowledge bases.
Generally speaking, with RAG, users can analyze data using AI without first needing to train the model with the data. The process of training the model exposes the training dataset to the model, which can be problematic if the user does not own the model.
Currently, a problem with RAG is its centralized nature: the data repositories used for retrieval are stored in a single location or managed by a single entity.
By using a decentralized RAG framework, KIP aims to prevent data monopolies and enable AI model designers, app developers, and data owners to securely and quickly deploy in Web3. KIP distributes the storage and management of retrieval data across multiple nodes, ensuring that no single entity can fully control all the data. Through the retrieval process in the decentralized RAG system, it allows multiple contributors to own their assets, participate in the AI value chain, and benefit from it.
ChainCatcher: What are its application scenarios?
Julian Peh: Decentralized RAG, like KIP, is particularly useful in fields that require the latest and most sensitive data sources, such as gaming, education, healthcare, and asset management.
For example, a neurologist uses a fine-tuned large language model (LLM) trained on Netter's Anatomy Atlas and Gray's Anatomy to consult with patients with neurological symptoms and retrieves patient data through dRAG to provide anatomical insights, differential diagnoses, and treatment plans.
Another use case is in the education field. In the current era of fragmented attention, artificial intelligence can greatly assist learners. Educators can clone their expertise into digital twins and monetize their knowledge around the clock. Students can pay just $1 for an immediate answer instead of spending $100 on textbooks. It's worth noting that we have officially announced a strategic partnership with the education platform Open Campus to drive education innovation based on KIP Protocol.
Decentralized RAG provides new monetization possibilities for individual contributions in datasets and AI models, promoting the development of a fairer AI ecosystem.
ChainCatcher: KIP has proposed the KnowledgeFi framework. How should this concept be understood?
Julian Peh: The KnowledgeFi framework was invented by KIP with the aim of achieving two things:
1) Allowing independent AI value creators to connect with each other to create business value.
2) Transferring economic value (revenue) from AI users to AI value creators through blockchain.
In Open Campus University (OCU), KnowledgeFi brings innovation to the education field with its decentralized education platform, which optimizes learning processes with independent AI models. This innovation not only achieves personalization and accessibility of educational resources but also incentivizes content creators to provide high-quality educational content through economic reward mechanisms.
At the same time, the use of Web3 technology ensures transparency and trust in the entire education ecosystem.
KnowledgeFi provides unprecedented opportunities for educators to monetize their educational achievements using Web3 technology. This is particularly important because educators have long played a crucial role in society, but their compensation often does not match their contributions.
IV. Future Prospects: Deepening Community Incentives, Expanding Ecosystem Collaboration
ChainCatcher: Currently, KIP Protocol's Genesis NFT has completed Free Minting. What future community incentive plans does KIP have?
Julian Peh: Our NFT series sales have far exceeded expectations. Holders of KIP Genesis Pass NFT and KIP100x SBT will receive airdrop rewards in $KIP. Additionally, our Season 2 event, The Uprising, officially launched on May 27th, with larger scale and more generous rewards compared to Season 1.
For this event, we have designed a new website: https://uprising.kip.pro/, where users can earn points and bonuses through various social media interactions, inviting friends, and win related rewards. We hope to encourage interaction with KIP in a gamified and entertaining way to help further expand our influence. Of course, actively participating users will also receive corresponding rewards.
In addition, we have set up point bonuses for some partners and blue-chip NFT holders, including: Azuki, BAYC, Pudgy Penguins, Ultiverse ElectricSheep, Mocaverse, Milady, KPR. We also plan to include more communities in the future, so stay tuned for our announcements.
ChainCatcher: Previously, you mentioned that KIP is discussing integration with the Base chain. What other ecosystems will KIP consider collaborating with in the future?
Julian Peh: KIP is designed as a multi-chain protocol, and we have already deployed on multiple chains, including Base, Arbitrum, Ethereum, TON, and we are preparing to deploy on Bitcoin Layer 2.
As one of Animoca Ventures' investment projects, our partners will come from the broader Animoca ecosystem, with over 450 projects. We will leverage Animoca's network effect and have already collaborated with several of their major investment projects (two of which are OpenCampus and Aethir).
We are currently in negotiations with many large and established projects for potential partnerships, some of which will be announced soon.
For more details, please refer to our blog for the latest partnership announcements: https://www.kip.pro/blog
ChainCatcher: What are KIP Protocol's upcoming plans?
Julian Peh: KIP Protocol's mission is to fundamentally change the utilization, sharing, and valuation of AI knowledge assets in the new era. Currently, the project is in its early stages. KIP Protocol also plans to launch the $KIP TGE soon, so stay tuned.
In terms of market activities, as I mentioned, Season 2 has started, and we welcome everyone to actively participate and earn generous rewards.
Currently, KIP Protocol is in discussions with multiple chains and will soon integrate with selected Layer1 chains. Early adopters and community members will have access to dApps launched through the KIP protocol, including KnowledgeFi.xyz and OpenCampus University.
We have specific GTM plans to expand KIP Protocol's partner and project ecosystem and establish on-the-ground activations and new communities in multiple regions, with more details to be announced soon.
On the product side, the team is rapidly expanding and working to prepare for the comprehensive release of the KIP Protocol, which will include KIP Foundation, KIP Starter, KIP DAO, and the development of the App Chain, among many other key deliverables.
About KIP Protocol
KIP Protocol builds a Web3 foundational protocol for AI app developers, model creators, and data owners, enabling AI assets to be easily deployed and monetized while retaining full digital property rights.
KIP will create a new AI business ecosystem to address the challenges and issues faced in decentralized AI deployment and ensure that everyone can enjoy the economic benefits of AI.
The KIP team brings together senior Ph.D. researchers and technical experts dedicated to AI research since 2019, with deep professional backgrounds and rich experience in the Web3 field, committed to driving decentralized AI and accelerating the decentralized AI wave.
For more information, please join the official Chinese community: https://t.me/KIPProtocol_CN
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