The artificial intelligence space is full of promise and great potential, but a small group of big tech companies mostly dominates it. The select few are entirely in control of data flows, computing resources, and advanced AI models that have helped push this innovation forward. Sadly, the concentration of such immense power in a few entities has made it difficult for individuals and emerging developers to participate in the AI scene fully.
Apart from genuine concerns about data privacy, a lack of clarity on how algorithms work, and obvious biases, the fundamental imbalance lies in how people who contribute valuable data to fuel the AI ecosystem remain unrecognized and uncompensated while also being unaware of how their data is used. However, all that is now changing, thanks to the entry of a new player in the market that has introduced decentralized AI, Sahara AI crypto.
This guide explains what Sahara AI is, how the decentralized blockchain platform facilitates the development and monetization of AI technology.
What is Sahara AI?
Sahara AI is a decentralized AI blockchain protocol that aims to bring revolutionary changes to the AI field by transforming the process of AI asset development and monetization through groundbreaking AI asset concepts and proprietary infrastructure. The platform aims to build a fair and democratic AI marketplace with a lowered entry barrier, enabling entrepreneurs, developers, and ordinary AI enthusiasts to develop and deploy AI products based on the Sahara ecosystem. Moreover, its model envisions a scenario where all participants earn, regardless of whether they contribute data, develop models, or deploy AI assets. While still in its early stages of development, Sahara AI has demonstrated great potential, with over 1.4 million active accounts during its private testnet.
The decentralized AI concept was developed by Sahara Labs, led by CEO and Founder Sean Ren, a renowned AI researcher over the last decade who has been previously recognized as “Samsung AI Researcher of the Year,” “MIT Technology Review Innovator under 35,” and a member of Forbes’ “30 under 30.”
The rest of the team consists mainly of experts from the Web3 and AI industries having rich education backgrounds from institutions like the University of Southern California, Stanford University, and renowned tech companies like Google, Stability AI, Binance, and Microsoft. The interdisciplinary experience brought by all these experts creates a solid and technical foundation that Sahara AI has leveraged to usher in a new dawn. Moreover, the project has also significantly benefited from the support and guidance of leading industry figures in academia and AI, which further enhances the project’s influence and authority.
Key Features of Sahara AI
- Decentralized AI Infrastructure: Sahara AI (SAHARA) introduces a blockchain-focused ecosystem that proposes a decentralized AI ownership model where training data is protected. At the same time, monetization is fairly distributed among all participants.
- Three-Pillar Architecture: The decentralized AI platform is built on a foundation of Sovereignty and Provenance, comprising verifiable ownership and attribution, AI Utility that promotes a hassle-free user experience with robust security, and a Collaborative Economy where fair compensation and inclusive participation are the key tenets.
- Comprehensive Development Environment: The Sahara ecosystem offers high-value data assets, proprietary and open-source AI models, labeling services, and developer tools in a single, integrated platform.
Key Benefits of Sahara AI
Most of the popular AI models today are based on the Web 2.0 internet model. The services they use are provided by centralized AI providers that have monopoly control but lack transparency and do not offer protection or compensation for contributors. AI service providers collect large amounts of data from individuals without clear information on how they will use it as well as the origin of the information that contributes to AI results.
Sahara AI changes all that by introducing a human-centered alternative that protects individual privacy while guaranteeing benefits by rewarding all contributors. Through the decentralized AI platform, every contributor, whether a particular developer or a large multinational enterprise, can contribute and benefit from the ensuing AI advancements while the platform maintains model data sovereignty, allowing them to create, share, and securely trade AI assets in a secure environment.
The following factors are what set Sahara AI apart:
- Sovereignty and Origin: The project introduces decentralized ownership with immutable distribution and transparency throughout the development cycle. The platform also provides a comprehensive suite of advanced AI tools designed to enhance user experience and usability by delivering real-time, practical value.
- Cooperative Economy: Sahara operates on a fair and transparent system that ensures every contributor receives a fair reward for their efforts, while participation is encouraged with the aim of driving innovation within the emerging AI ecosystem.
- Ownership and Attribution: Sahara AI guarantees the decentralization of ownership and governance of AI models throughout the entire development process, ensuring a transparent and immutable attribution record on the blockchain.
- AI Infrastructure: By utilizing the latest computing frameworks and most advanced algorithms, Sahara provides infrastructure that supports decentralized training and services, fostering the ongoing development of AI technology through a customized blockchain. This blockchain ensures transparency and security, providing a solid foundation for managing the AI ecosystem and its attendant transactions. This also includes Personalized Agent AI, which refers to digital avatars on the platform that help manage tasks, operate the AI ecosystem, and interact with the system on behalf of users.
- Sahara AI Marketplace: The platform introduces an AI marketplace that brings together a wide range of datasets, agents, and models for crowd-outsourcing while providing blockchain-enabled ownership verification and a flexible licensing environment.
- Development Tools: Sahara AI introduces a suite of easy-to-use, advanced tools designed to cater to users and developers, empowering them to utilize their skills. These include dedicated APIs and SDKs for developers, as well as low-code/no-code platforms that facilitate non-technical users’ entry into the world of creating simple AI solutions.
- Secure Storage: The platform utilizes encrypted vaults and other state-of-the-art security measures to ensure the safety of user data and AI assets.
What Problems Does Sahara AI Solve?
There have been many ethical challenges in the world of centralized control, which Sahara AI aims to disrupt. The forward-thinking platform becomes a game changer by building a platform where AI development and its benefits are accessible to everyone. The decentralized AI blockchain fosters a collaborative environment where high-quality AI resources can be developed, and all contributors are recognized. To enable this to happen, Sahara AI uses decentralized AI to address the following problems:
Centralization and Monopoly Control
Currently, the development and deployment of AI models are monopolized mainly by a few large tech companies, which have created an environment that stifles innovation and limits the acquisition of AI technology. The result of centralization is that important decisions regarding data use, AI development, and benefits tend to gravitate around only a few corporate entities rather than the broader society of people whose data drives AI development. Sahara AI addresses this challenge through its decentralized platform, where governance and ownership are driven by a community, ensuring that no single entity monopolizes personal interests or controls AI development and innovation.
Unfair Attribution and Compensation
The existing AI ecosystem comprises billions of individuals who contribute data and insights that fuel the entire ecosystem. However, the majority of them don’t receive recognition or rewards, nor are they aware that their data is being used. This reflects a fundamentally unfair system where value only flows upwards toward the centralized platforms, with nothing going to the contributors who are key stakeholders. Sahara AI addresses this issue through its advanced source tracking infrastructure, which records all contributions on the chain to ensure that every participant receives a fair reward for their contribution, whether it involves data provision, model development, or AI application development.
Lack of Transparency and Accountability
In traditional AI models, decisions and developments occur behind closed doors, with little to no transparency regarding the sources of data, decision algorithms, or model training processes. The opacity of the process makes it impossible for users to verify the quality of AI systems or identification of biases, leading to the possibility of unethical development practices. By leveraging the transparency provided by blockchain-based source systems, Sahara AI ensures that all steps of the development process are recorded on an immutable, verifiable blockchain, fostering trust and accountability in emerging AI systems.
Barriers to Entry and Innovation
The major tech companies have erected significant barriers for individuals or small businesses lacking substantial data sets and computing resources. The presence of obstacles prevents the emergence of different perspectives, thereby narrowing the potential for a richer AI experience and limiting access to participation, which leads to limited innovation. Sahara utilizes its collaborative resource-sharing mechanism and infrastructure to democratize access to computing resources, datasets, and AI development tools, allowing all to participate in AI innovation with no restrictions.
Sahara AI Token ($SAHARA)
The platform recently launched its SAHARA token ($SAHARA) as a native token of the platform, intended to facilitate transactions, incentivize participation, and, in the future, serve as a governance tool for users to determine the platform’s direction. Multiple crypto exchanges have also listed SAHARA for trading, including MEXC, Bitget and even for exclusive airdrops such as OKX.
The token is a multifaceted crypto asset facilitating the following:
- Access Products: All users intending to access the project’s datasets, AI models, and computational power on the Sahara AI network will do so using the SAHARA token.
- Payments: Any participant who needs to run an inference or train an AI model will be required to pay using the SAHARA.
- Reward System: Data providers and all contributors offering valuable datasets that enable the decentralized marketplace will receive their rewards in SAHARA. Additionally, AI developers will earn SAHARA for contributing algorithms or models that foster collaborative AI development. Their contributions might also earn SAHARA. There is also potential for the token to be used to reward users for various other forms of participation, including running nodes and contributing to the platform’s development and growth.
- Staking: As the project grows and enters the mainstream crypto space, holders may be able to stake their SAHARA tokens to help stabilize and secure the network, in addition to validating transactions.
- DAO: The token could still come in handy when it comes to governance issues. Since Sahara AI is designed to be a community-driven project, holders of the SAHARA token will be able to vote on updates, key proposals, and the allocation of resources.
The Sahara Ecosystem
The Sahara AI ecosystem is built on a model that contains five primary roles to support the project’s economic model. The key roles are designed to create a collaborative network that facilitates the creation, deployment, and monetization of AI models.
Below is a breakdown of the functions of each role:
- Knowledge Consumers: are the end-users of the final product and businesses that will pay for the services rendered by AI models, fueling the entire Sahara ecosystem.
- Knowledge Providers: refers to the group of individuals or entities that collect data and provide labeling services. They give and classify data, which serves as the raw material for the AI model development network. The knowledge providers receive compensation based on the quality and utility of the data they provide.
- Knowledge Developers: refers to teams or individuals that use the data and services provided by other team members to create AI applications or models. They generate revenue by offering tools and models that consumers can utilize.
- Node Operators: The node operators provide storage resources and computing power necessary to operate the entire Sahara AI platform, along with all other associated AI models. For their contribution, this group receives payment for fueling the network’s infrastructure.
- Validators: play a crucial role in ensuring the Sahara AI platform remains stable and secure. They are responsible for verifying the accuracy and integrity of data and models to ensure that the system remains reliable and accountable to users.
The proposed structure has been designed to ensure that the platform has a self-sustaining ecosystem where every participant within the ecosystem, whether sharing data and knowledge, operating nodes, fine-tuning models, verifying information, or developing autonomous agents, benefits from their role.
Conclusion
Sahara AI presents an innovative approach to integrating two disruptive technologies, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, enabling users to benefit from the best of both worlds. By introducing decentralization to the world of AI, the project aims to address the fundamental challenge of unfairness and inequality that has long plagued the sector. Through the democratization of space, Sahara AI enables individuals and small entities to access tools and resources, facilitating fair attribution from every potential contributor and creating transparent systems that ensure people can trust the integrity of AI models.
FAQ
What is Sahara AI Crypto?
Sahara AI is a decentralized AI platform that empowers individuals and businesses to participate in creating AI models and monetize their contributions.
What are personalized AI agents on Sahara AI?
Personalized AI Agents refer to digital avatars on the platform that help manage tasks, operate the AI ecosystem, and interact with the system on behalf of users.
How does Sahara AI ensure data privacy?
Users will be allowed to store proprietary data and key components of their AI models on their devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and computers, thereby guaranteeing more privacy and control.
Can I earn profits on Sahara AI?
Sahara AI has proposed a revenue-sharing system where developers and users will earn rewards based on their contributions or usage of data, AI models, and related services.
