Today Illia Polosukhin, founder of Near Protocol joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss the intersection of AI and blockchain technologies, exploring how decentralized infrastructure can enable "user-owned AI" through privacy-preserving model training, confidential computing, and autonomous agents that operate via smart contracts without centralized control.

Check out our sponsors: Linear, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

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  Evolution from AI to Blockchain: Near Protocol evolved from an AI project focused on teaching machines to code to a blockchain platform, and now combines both technologies.


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  Significant User Base: Near Protocol has achieved 50 million monthly active users, demonstrating substantial adoption.


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  Autonomous AI Agents: Near has developed autonomous AI agents that can operate independently once deployed, including an example of an agent given $10,000 to trade based on Twitter sentiment.


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  AI-Blockchain Integration: The platform combines decentralized compute for running AI with smart contracts that execute actions, creating truly autonomous systems.


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  AI in Governance: Near is experimenting with "AI senators" that people can vote for, which then make governance decisions, potentially solving the principal-agent problem in representation.


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  Jurisdictional Framework: Near is creating infrastructure for jurisdictions and courts to enforce rules on AI agents, essentially putting governance into AI.

Sponsors:

Linear:

Linear is the system for modern product development. Nearly every AI company you've heard of is using Linear to build products. Get 6 months of Linear Business for free at: https://linear.app/tcr

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure:

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CHAPTERS:

(00:00 ) About the Episode

(03:58 ) From Transformers to Blockchain (Part 1)

(17:01 ) Sponsor: Linear

(18:30 ) From Transformers to Blockchain (Part 2)

(21:23 ) Blockchain Security Fundamentals (Part 1)

(33:36 ) Sponsor: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

(35:00 ) Blockchain Security Fundamentals (Part 2)

(39:01 ) Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Solution

(51:11 ) Confidential Computing Infrastructure

(58:07 ) User-Owned AI Models

(01:14:47 ) Marketplace and Governance

(01:18:57 ) AI-Crypto Synergy Vision

(01:27:50 ) Autonomous Agents Future

(01:31:22 ) Outro