The number of use cases for blockchain technology is virtually limitless. Although most efforts focus on the financial sector in one way or another, Hanson Robotics and their partners envision a very different future. The company wants to harness blockchain technology to make its artificial intelligence smarter. To that end, this group is working on a blockchain-based marketplace where AI developers can share their work.

Bringing AI and Blockchain Together

It is quite an ambitious project by Hanson Robotics, OpenCog Foundation, Vulpen, ESA, and others. The Hanson Robotics company is best known for its Sophia robot (click the link to discover why it made headlines recently), yet it is also working on a few other projects. One of these concepts involves a blockchain-based marketplace where artificial intelligence developers from all over the world can share their creations.

That is a rather intriguing concept, as it is one of the first times we’ve seen a company actively trying to bring AI and blockchain technologies together. Everyone connected to this decentralized marketplace will be able to access the shared AI creations and use them to enhance existing robots. Additionally, they can use the software as a foundation to build bigger and better hardware in general. The project creates an unlimited number of possibilities; that much is certain.

This project goes by the codename of SingularityNET

Even though there is no shortage of potential blockchain applications, it seems the majority of ideas on the platform revolve around the same concepts: digitizing tokens or paying for functions. This technology has great value in the financial sector, but there are so many more potential applications these days. The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and who knows what else are just some of the options to explore in the future.

This does not necessarily mean we will suddenly see a decentralized AI being developed, however. Blockchain technology will only be used to power the new marketplace, rather than the AI technology itself. It is not entirely impossible we would see a decentralized AI at some point in the future, but for now, it is not the plan whatsoever. It is good to see this marketplace being created, though. There is plenty of development in the AI sector as we speak, yet few of these solutions can be actively shared through a convenient platform.

It is unclear when SingularityNET will come to fruition, though. For now, Hanson Robotics and its partners are still seemingly in the early stages of development. Creating such a decentralized marketplace takes time and effort and may not be available for public use until a while from now. The bigger question is whether or not we will see more efforts in this regard. Artificial intelligence has been one of the most interesting industries as of late; that much no one can deny.