AI Foundry: Because Closed AI Is So Last Century

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Hold onto your digital hats, folks-IoTeX just dropped the Real-World AI Foundry, a shiny new global crusade to build AI that’s open, decentralized, and blockchain-powered. Because, apparently, AI companies thought, “Hey, let’s keep it secret, pricey, and monopolized by a handful of wizards.” Spoiler: That’s so 2020.

At the R3al World AI Summit (yes, they really stylize “Real” with a 3, because nothing says cutting-edge like numbers in words) during Singapore’s Token2049 conference, IoTeX rolled out this project like it was the new iPhone, partnering with big names like Vodafone, Filecoin, Theta Network, and a few others that sound like either sci-fi planets or your next Wi-Fi network.

According to their spokesperson (who probably drinks way too much crypto Kool-Aid), “Real-World AI requires open collaboration where live, trusted data from machines, people, and sensors flow into shared models”-translation: less secret sauce, more potluck dinner where everybody brings data to the table. 🍲

Plus, blockchain swoops in to secure all this precious data, while crypto hands out rewards like Oprah giving away cars. “You get tokens! You get tokens! Everybody gets tokens!”-just for providing data, compute power, or validating stuff, all recorded on a blockchain because if it’s not on-chain, did it even happen?

AI Foundry diagram

Real-World Models: AI That Actually Does Stuff

At the very core of this tech Frankenstein’s monster are Real-World Models (RWMs). These aren’t your grandma’s sit-and-learn models-they’re trained on live data from machines, sensors, and humans arguing about what temperature the office should be set to. They understand cause and effect, adapt on the fly, and are ready to revolutionize sectors you actually care about, like healthcare, energy, mobility, and robotics (AKA, making your toaster smarter-maybe).

Our friendly IO spokesperson assures us that instead of just tossing around computing power or hosting agents like some sort of AI Block Party, the Foundry is the first open ecosystem of RWMs. And don’t worry, it’s governed collectively so your smart fridge doesn’t become the next Skynet. Interoperability, accountability, and human values all rolled into one neat crypto-wrapped package.

The Foundry’s kicking off with a juicy stream of real-world data flowing from over 40 million connected devices-that’s like the entire population of Canada, but smarter and less polite. These devices plug in as trusted data sources using ioID, a decentralized identity protocol that somehow verifies you’re real without spilling your secrets. Fancy encryption and zero-knowledge proofs keep your data safer than grandma’s cookie recipe.

And if you’re wondering, yes, all those data providers, infrastructure folks, and model magicians get paid handsomely-in crypto, naturally-based on how good and useful their contributions are, tracked onchain because we live in the future now.

Governance? That’s starting with a few top-tier working groups (Alignment Partners-imagine them as the Avengers of crypto) but eventually, they’re going full “let the people vote” with token-based mechanisms, making sure no evil overlord hijacks the system. Democracy FTW! 🗳️

Decentralized AI: The Revolution Is Not Televised (Yet)

Also, did you hear the buzz? Swarm Network just raised $13 million to build an offchain-to-onchain AI verification protocol that’s already fact-checking over 3 million posts. Because the internet was running low on fact-checkers-and cats.

Not to be outdone, Nous Research snagged a cool $50 million in a Series A round led by Paradigm to build open-source AI models on Solana. Basically, they’re saying, “Hey OpenAI, nice monopoly-here’s some decentralized chaos to shake things up.”

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2025-09-30 16:53