If you’ve been following our Twitter @ORAProtocol, you are aware that there are a lot of activities at ORA. We were extremely excited to be unveiling so many new developments at ETHDenver, demonstrating our thought leadership across both Web3 and AI. So, what did we release? And what did the team get up to in Denver? Read more to find out.
If you make it to the end, you MAY also get some ORA alpha.
1. Initial Model Offering (IMO)
The crowning jewel of our ETHDenver experience was ORA’s release of the Initial Model Offering (IMO) framework. Cofounder and visionary Kartin Wong (@0xKartin) unveiled the IMO to a hyped crowd at his talk, “AI isn’t Evil and Smart Contract Proves It” on Thursday Feb 29th. Originally, cofounder Suede Kam (@edeusm) was going to give this talk.
The IMO combines two innovations originating from the ORA team:
The IMO tokenizes AI models and enables revenue sharing among token holders for revenue derived from the use of the model. IMO tokens represent a share of an AI model and allow for initial and subsequent funding in the model’s unique design or intention. But why is this a defining innovation in the AI landscape?
AI companies face two specific problems which the IMO solves:
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There is no efficiency way to fund open-source models and their ecosystem
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Even if a model is proprietarily developed, as soon as one of the large AI companies announces a competing product, funding tends to get pulled (Take OpenAI’s announcement of text-to-video product Sora, for example).
ORA is a strong proponent of open-source, decentralized development, particularly when it comes to AI. We believe that open-source is fundamental to safe, ethical and sustainable AI development. We also believe in democratizing access to AI, fundraising, and revenue derived from this era-defining technology. We built the IMO framework as a way to push these beliefs forward.
The IMO allows AI model developers to:
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Fundraise through initial sale from a global marketplace of interested parties
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Incentivize open-source contributors
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Create clear revenue streams for the model provider and token holders
The buzz around IMO was palpable after the announcement.
Support our announcement and learn more about the IMO here.
The IMO will be a core part of our upcoming Early Contributor Program…
2. Optimistic Privacy Preserving AI (opp/ai)
Another industry-leading announcement of ETHDenver: opp/ai.
First, we developed opML as a way to solve the cost and efficiency issues associated with bringing AI onchain through zkML. Then, we used opML to build out the first Onchain AI Oracle, bringing AI inference onchain for use in smart contracts, dApps and chains. Now, we have gone a step further in establishing our thought leadership in the AI x Crypto space. Chief Scientist, Dr Cathie So (@drCathieSo_eth), announced opp/ai at our event, “Inference: Welcome to the Revolution”.
opp/ai 👑 = opML 💨 + zkML 🔐
opp/ai combines the benefits and reduces the downsides of both OP and ZK frameworks. It defines the most applicable framework for bringing AI onchain in the space.
Built on the foundations of opML, opp/ai strikes a much-needed balance between privacy and computational efficiency. You can test out Onchain AI right now at our website: ai.ora.io. Build the next generation of AI-powered smart contracts right now with ORA’s OAO.
Support our announcement and learn more about opp/ai here.
3. Inference: Welcome to the Revolution
On Tuesday Feb 26th we cohosted our side event, “Inference: Welcome to the Revolution” with with dao5 (@daofive), Story Protocol (@storyprotocol), and EthStorage (@EthStorage).
We covered a number of topics across Web3, AI and ZK. If you missed it, don’t worry. We have you covered with full recordings of all the stages which we will be sharing soon.
Oh, and our secret afterparty was pretty cool. 3lau (@3LAU) and Carl Craig djed. NBD.
4. Hyper Scholar Success!
We flew our first group of scholars from the Hyper Scholar Program out to join us in Denver in representing ORA. Besides an amazingly fun lunch with the team, scholars Sushaan, Yolanda and Mingzhe competed in the ETHDenver Buidlathon.
Sushaan submitted a Social Attestation project, allowing users to attest to their social media posts so that anyone can verify a post’s legitimacy onchain. This project was intended to solve issues involving fake, scam accounts imitating legitimate accounts and their posts, but with fake links. Check out the project page here.
Yolanda and Mingzhe teamed up to WIN one of the hackathon prizes with their ZKLife: zk-enhanced onchain AI Gaming project. A cutting-edge Game of Life version featuring onchain cost-efficiency, AI opponents, and NFT rewards, safeguarded by zero-knowledge proofs. This project demonstrates how zkps can significantly reduce the costs of onchain gaming while ensuring the game remains verifiable and fair. Check out the project page here.
We’re very excited to see what the rest of the scholars produce during ETH Taipei for those hackathons. We will be announcing another season of the Hyper Scholar Program towards the start of Summer, so if you’re interested in being sponsored to attend a Web3 conference definitely follow the ORA twitter for updates.
5. ORA’s Swag.
We came, we saw, and we gave out all our swag. If you were lucky enough to get some of our unique sweaters or meme tshirts, good job. Each piece is limited edition.
6. Early Contributor Program… 👀
And if you made it this far, well done. You are still early.
We will be releasing the ORA Points Program very soon. The program rewards early contributors to the ORA protocol.
Follow our twitter (@ORAProtocol) and turn on notifications to be the first to learn of the Pilot Program announcement.
7. Links to available recorded ORA Speaker Events
Network Design for protocols using ZK-proofs with Norbert Vadas (@NorbertVadas)
zkVMs: From today to tomorrow with Daniel Tam (@0xShakesBeare)
A Builder’s Roadmap to Decentralized AI with Kartin Wong (@0xKartin)
zkML: Verifying the Basilisk with Dr Cathie So (@drCathieSo_eth)
AI isn’t Evil and Smart Contract Proves It with Kartin Wong
NYU Blockchain Lab: Breakdown of Infrastructure from Research Perspective with Suning Yao (@msfew_eth)
About ORA
ORA is a verifiable oracle protocol that enables AI and any-size compute on any chain.
ORA breaks down the limitations of smart contracts by offering AI, richer data sources and arbitrary compute so developers can innovate freely.
ORA’s work has been trusted by Compound, Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, and more.
www.ora.io | twitter.com/oraprotocol | discord.gg/MgyYbW9dQj