Charles Hoskinson wants to make ADA an AI crypto – what does it mean?

Mail & Guardian

11 hours ago

Crypto enthusiasts know there are few figures as influential as Charles Hoskinson, who is the co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Cardano. Hoskinson is one of the personalities who has been at the forefront of blockchain innovation for years, and lately he has been making waves with its plans to transform ADA, Cardano's native token into the backbone of a decentralized artificial intelligence ecosystem. Experts believe this is an ambitious and bold step in the convergence of two of the most transformative technologies of the moment, which are blockchain and artificial intelligence.
In order to make an
Discussing the vision
Charles Hoskinson's latest statements and directions about projects reveal that he is quite interested in combining blockchain and AI to resist monopolization by big tech companies and preserve decentralization. At the core of his plan to make ADA an AI crypto lays the desire to democratize AI development and deployment, and ensure that no single entity can control its outcomes or growth.
Charles Hoskinson has a vision for the future of AI systems:
He wants them to be transparent, especially when it comes to decision making
He desires for decentralized communities to ethically govern them
He wants blockchain technology to be used to create immutable and verifiable systems
And he plans to use decentralized computational infrastructure to power them.
To this end, the ADA token and Cardano's blockchain are positioned to serve as the foundational elements in this emerging AI economy. Cardano could become the first AI-native blockchain ecosystem if it leverages ADA for governance, computation rewards, and data transactions.
Is Cardano suitable for AI?
Now this is a question worth answering because it's vital for the project to be suitable for artificial intelligence for the plans to be successful. The Cardano team, together with Hoskinson believe that Cardano has some unique features that make it well-suited for hosting AI systems. The list includes:
Formal methods and peer review. Cardano has always stood apart in the crypto sector for its academic rigor. All features and updates are peer-reviewed and grounded in formal mathematical principles. Its approach builds trust, which is critical when dealing with sensitive decisions regarding artificial intelligence, like autonomous vehicles and medical diagnoses.
Scalability via Hydra. Scalability has always been a sticking point for blockchain adoption. Cardano's solution is Hydra, a layer-2 scaling protocol designed to significantly increase transaction throughput. For AI, which often requires high-speed data processing, Hydra ensures Cardano can support the necessary bandwidth and latency.
Interoperability. Cardano has a special approach to interoperability, which allows it to communicate with other data sources, blockchains, and which could enable AI systems to draw from a wider pool of information. Data is paramount for the success of AI, so this feature is critical.
Governance with Voltaire. Voltaire, Cardano's governance system, allows token holders to vote on protocol upgrades and project funding. Applied to AI, this democratic model could allow communities to decide how AI systems are trained, how their outputs are used, and how ethical dilemmas are resolved.
Reviewing the key components of Hoskinson's AI strategy
Charles Hoskinson has a multi-layered approach to develop an AI-centric crypto ecosystem. Let's have a look at his plan.
1. Integrating AI Agents with Smart Contracts
Cardano's smart contract platform, Plutus, will support AI-powered agents – autonomous bots that can negotiate, trade, and make decisions without human input. These agents can interact with decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, manage supply chains, and even create new AI models by pooling resources.
2. Decentralized AI Marketplaces
Using the Cardano blockchain, decentralized marketplaces for AI models, datasets, and computation power can be developed. Developers could offer AI models for rent, users could share data anonymously, and validators could earn ADA for contributing GPU power to AI computations.
3. AI for Blockchain Governance
One of the more futuristic aspects of Hoskinson's vision is the use of AI in managing blockchain governance. AI could help detect fraudulent proposals, recommend funding allocations based on network data, and provide predictive analytics for protocol evolution.
4. Partnership with SingularityNET
A cornerstone of this plan is Cardano's close collaboration with SingularityNET, a decentralized AI platform founded by Dr. Ben Goertzel. SingularityNET, which moved part of its operations from Ethereum to Cardano, is developing a decentralized network of AI services. The AGIX token (native to SingularityNET) is being bridged to Cardano, allowing for smoother integration between the two ecosystems.
SingularityNET and Cardano share a common vision of democratized, ethical AI. Together, they aim to build 'Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)' in a decentralized way, potentially changing how AI is developed and controlled on a global scale.
ADA could become the fuel for the AI economy
Hoskinson sees Ada,
As a payment method for AI services (e.g., model inference, training time, access to datasets).
As a tool to incentivize annotation and data sharing.
Reward method for decentralized computation providers.
As a tool to vote on AI-related governance decisions.
If this happens ADA will gain intrinsic value beyond speculation. The demand for decentralized artificial intelligence is higher by the day, so the demand for the cryptocurrency that powers it should follow the same trajectory, which could only reinforce its position as a key player in the new economy.
A short look at the roadmap
Hoskinson's roadmap for an AI-powered Cardano isn't expected to materialize overnight. The development is expected to progress in stages throughout 2025 and beyond. Key milestones will include:
Launch of new AI-integrated dApps.
Expansion of the SingularityNET partnership.
Rollout of tools for AI agent development.
Community governance of AI-related proposals.
Integration of off-chain AI computation with Cardano nodes.
As expected, academic research, community involvement, and transparent development will stay behind the transformation. If Cardano manages to enter the AI sphere, it could move from being a competitor in the smart contract sector to a pioneer in a new class of decentralized intelligence infrastructure.