Author: Patti, ChainCatcher
Recently, the private data AI project ORO AI announced the completion of a $6 million seed round, led by a16z crypto (CSX) and Delphi Ventures, with participation from Ocular VC, Orange DAO, NEAR Protocol, and 0G Labs.
As is well known, CSX is an acceleration program created by a16z crypto specifically for early-stage blockchain and crypto technology startups,CSX 04 launched its fourth Crypto Startup Accelerator program batch in early April, stating that over the next two months, founders of selected companies will receive firsthand guidance and support from a16z crypto's investment and operations team. a16z CSX also promised to invest at least $500,000 in each selected company, andthe decentralized AI platform ORO AI is one of them.
So, how did the decentralized AI platform ORO AI manage to win the favor of top investment firm a16z crypto in the current liquidity-scarce environment? Let's investigate.
What is ORO AI?
ORO AI is a decentralized AI platform aimed at unlocking high-quality, private data for advanced AI models, with founding team members from Stanford University AI Lab, Scale AI, Replit, Salesforce, Google DeepMind, Amazon AI, and Binance.
Currently, most AI models rely on public data, which often lacks depth and diversity, making it difficult to train truly intelligent AI. ORO AI recognized this pain point and proposed an innovative solution to improve AI model quality using private data. ORO AI hopes to enable individuals to safely contribute their private data and receive due rewards during AI model training through blockchain technology and privacy protection protocols.
Project Mechanism: Data Sharing and Privacy Protection
Private data refers to highly personalized and sensitive data generated in daily life and work, which contains rich contextual information and deep signals that can significantly enhance AI model performance. However, due to privacy and security concerns, these data have not been effectively utilized.
ORO AI's birth provides an effective utilization solution.
In fact, ORO AI's project mechanism mainly includes two levels: a data sharing application and a privacy-preserving blockchain protocol.
Data Sharing Application
ORO AI's data sharing application is a gamified app where users can connect their accounts (such as social media, finance, health, etc.) and complete interesting challenges, or "tasks". These tasks collect specific data required by AI companies, such as users' health data, consumption habits, social behaviors, etc.
Whenever a user's data helps AI become smarter, they receive direct economic rewards. Additionally, users can choose tasks based on their interests and needs, contributing data they consider valuable. Through this gamified design, ORO AI makes the data contribution process fun and fulfilling, further enhancing user engagement.
Privacy-Preserving Blockchain Protocol
To ensure user data safety and privacy, ORO AI employs advanced privacy protection technologies like digital vaults, zkTLS, and secure computing environments, allowing AI to learn user data within secure vaults without directly viewing users' private data.
Specifically, ORO AI's blockchain protocol uses encryption technology to store user data in secure vaults, with AI models only able to access these data in encrypted form through specific interfaces. During training, AI models can only obtain data statistical characteristics or model weight updates, without accessing raw data.
Moreover, ORO AI's blockchain will maintain a public record of data contributions and rewards, which anyone can view to ensure fair compensation for user data.
So, how can users participate in ORO?
Users can contribute data by completing AI development-needed data collection activities, such as specific tasks or linking social media accounts. Each data contribution earns ORO points, which can help users unlock "tremendous value".
According to official data, over 350,000 people have joined ORO's waitlist, with early users primarily being remote workers and crypto native contributors.
To ensure early user experience, ORO has temporarily closed waitlist registration.
Currently, ORO AI has 24,000 followers on its official X account, and the overall project is still in its early stages. With the disclosure of this $6 million funding round, ORO AI has entered the top ten of rootdata's daily hot list.
a16z crypto partner Elizabeth Harkavy also publicly shared the collaboration with ORO on her personal Twitter, expressing optimism about ORO's private data protection, calling it a future killer app, and believing that ORO "will empower users to control private, secure data on their devices and directly return the actual value of data to users", which is also the reason a16z crypto chose to invest.
As Elizabeth Harkavy said, we are at a major crossroads in AI development, and private data is the biggest gap for developers to build new applications and more precisely solve real-world problems.
Can ORO AI provide a new solution for releasing the value of private data and rapidly advancing AI technology, and break through to become the next killer app?
