AI is no stranger to making trends; whereas in the past it made headlines on the basis of its promise, the key difference is that today, it is making headlines on the basis of its capabilities. In other words, those promises may be close to coming to life, and we may be nearing the end of a chapter in our history.
The history of AI is rather fascinating, as it goes back all the way to 1956 during an event at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where the idea was first conceived. Since then, numerous breakthroughs have taken place in this sector that have brought AI to the forefront of the human mind. Whether it’s Deep Blue beating the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, or IBM’s Watson winning at the game show Jeopardy, it is clear that people’s interest in artificial intelligence has consistently been reignited at every notable advancement.
But what sets the recent reemergence of AI from all previous rounds are the sheer capabilities that programs such as GPT-3 (and recently, GPT-4), Midjourney, and Dall-E 2 demonstrate to the masses. What used to be quirky features that were fun to tinker with are now becoming viable tools with which one can reliably ‘create’ useful and practical results.
It should come as no surprise that, in light of all this, AI appears before us today not as a trend, but rather, as a growing phenomenon; a digital assistant slowly seeping its way into our devices to change the very way we live and work. Thus, even with an impact of such magnitude, one can expect trends to emerge around AI, and use it as a selling point regardless of the practicality and logic behind the utilization.
Of course, of the various companies and projects utilizing AI, the likes of blockchain projects are indeed present – in droves nonetheless. It should be noted that some of these projects do have merit and offer interesting AI-powered functionalities, but unfortunately, it is likely that outside of this tiny minority of promising projects, most are leveraging AI for marketing purposes.
One project, however, is an interesting case worth observing. It is a Layer-1 and Layer-2 protocol that has not 1, not 2, but 4 different nodes supporting a network powered by 3 different native tokens, IPFS capabilities, and, of course, AI integration. Inspired by themes of artificial intelligence, human and machine relationships, and the nature of sentience, the project has come to call itself the Conscious Network.
Everything You Need to Know
The project actually dates all the way back to 2016, but unlike today, it was a relatively simpler idea with a narrower focus. It used to be called CWV Network (also known as Conscious Value Network) and was instead focused on gaming, which for the time, was surprisingly forward-thinking for a blockchain project.
As we all know, however, this industry evolves and it can evolve fast. At some point, the developers behind the project must have realized that a blockchain network focused on gaming would probably not fare too well in the long run, and decided to revisit the drawing board and make some modifications. What they ended up creating was indeed a network that could power GameFi, but also, one that could power Metaverses, decentralized storage, and most notably, utilize AI for a range of different functions. This, of course, is in addition to the features you’ll find on other chains such as DeFi, NFTs, governance, SBTs, and so on.
There are several ideas at play here. One is that current blockchain solutions for a decentralized web do not have the required features and flexibility to turn Web3 into the next global standard. While it is not easy nor fair to criticize existing blockchains for falling short of serving as a sufficient infrastructure layer that could power a web standard that could compete with Web2.0, it is the unfortunate reality of the situation nonetheless. A network like Conscious Network could, however, play such a role in this process by offering developers, projects, and established Web2 names the tools they need to go above and beyond.
But it’s likely that the more alluring idea is that of AI and the role it plays in the network’s ecosystem. According to the team, the main role of AI within the project is to gather and process vast amounts of data, and even train using said data, in order to contribute to the network’s security and decentralization. It can accomplish this by identifying potential threats or vulnerabilities, proposing upgrades based on data, identifying needs and trends, and much more.
How, one might ask, does Conscious realize all of this? How does it address scalability issues, achieve adequate decentralization, and remain secure… all the while juggling so many features at the same time. The answer lies in how the network is designed, which involves quite a bit of clever engineering.
As mentioned earlier, the network has 4 distinct nodes in place, each serving a unique function. There’s the super node (responsible for the Layer-2 rollup), the validator node, the IPFS node, and lastly, the random node. The last among these nodes is arguably the most interesting, as they are responsible for the network’s AI. These nodes collect data from a variety of different sources including IoT devices, and use said data to train the AI.
The network itself is pretty decentralized as it allows everyone to run all 3 of the 4 nodes (excluding the super node), and uses a token called soulT for its governance. What is interesting about soulT is that even though it’s the native governance token, it’s not the native gas token, as that title is reserved for the CVN token. Instead, soulT is a non-transferrable token that, once generated by the miner, remains in their balance forever; as to prevent the concentration of voting power and spread it out as fairly as possible.
Entering the Public Consciousness
Given the current headlines surrounding artificial intelligence, AI could serve as a bridge for the Conscious network to march into the minds of the masses. It certainly has all the makings of a blockchain network that can not only stand the tests of time but also address them in a way that both come out on top. While the technology in itself is impressive, a project like this wouldn’t be possible without a talented and innovative spirit behind it, but that’s not all that’s pushing this project toward its goal. AI, a major component of the project, is also advancing at a rapid pace; and had ethics and regulations not been a concern, would have probably turned our world upside down by now. The hanging question isn’t just how will AI find its way into our devices, but rather, how will AI find its way into the Conscious network, and how will that ultimately change the direction Web3 is heading?
Conscious Network Links
Website: https://www.consciousdao.com
Telegram: https://t.me/ConsciousOfficial
Announcement channel: https://t.me/Consciousann
Discord: https://discord.gg/VxEyT8YQUn
Medium: https://medium.com/@ConsciousNetwork
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Consciousnetwork
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