Project Pai

The PAI project encompasses PAI network and the namesake cryptocurrency developed for the purpose of creating “personal artificial intelligence” profiles and making them parts of the future decentralized AI-based economy on the blockchain.

What Is PAI?

Launched in 2017, the PAI project emerged at the time when the artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain were often mentioned in the same breath as technological game changers. Back then, the enthusiasts behind the project came up with the concept of the Personal Artificial Intelligence (PAI), which referred to the intelligent 3D digitized user avatar powered by AI. The PAIs are made to look and sound like the actual users and trained to perform independent activities based on the profiling of users done by the PAI platform.

PAI avatars would be created and deployed on the namesake blockchain-based platform and function as the economic actors in what the PAI team describes as the “Artificial Intelligence Economy”. This economy will be based on the monetization of the users’ personal data which would, in turn, contribute to the strengthening of the PAI platform’s neural network.

What Is PAI Trying to Do?

The PAI project was designed to resolve at least some of the issues with today’s digital identity systems and information-based economy which the PAI team wants to make both more decentralized and “humanistic”:

• PAI project was built to decentralize AI development from the ground up. Despite the rise in the number of use cases and applications for AI, the PAI team perceives its development as being too segmented and limited to specific narrow tasks. This supposedly puts high pressure on the available AI development resources which are controlled by a small number of industry leaders. Instead of this, PAI will offer its open source and interoperable blockchain which will allow for the decentralized AI development, starting from the creation of individual AI-based profiles - PAIs. Imbuing these profiles with AI is supposed to give a stronger voice and representation to the users and breathe life into their 3D avatars which would be capable of learning skills on their own.
• PAI should allow users to monetize the data they leave online. Large businesses create the users’ digital profiles and use AI technology to narrow down their offers and target the users based on their data trail. This primarily operates through targeted advertisement and personalized search results. Seeing that the users’ online information trail is sufficient to engage in building a digital profile of a particular user, PAI aims to create an environment in which the users will be compensated for whatever information they send or store on the digital networks. AI technology will be tasked with filtering and transforming the wealth of this data into the most useful forms for the digital economies. Each AI asset will act as a network node which can cooperate with other nodes and be compensated proportionally to the amount of contribution in the form of its activities on the network. The PAI team describes this concept as “humanistic computing”.
• Digital AI-powered avatars on the PAI network should revolutionize the manner in which we interact with the services which are being provided online. PAI digital personas are capable of performing activities on behalf of the users, allowing them to divert their attention to the tasks which require a more hands-on approach. These representations can operate as virtual assistants capable of performing tasks such as ordering food or act as the user’s virtual agent in various interactions, such as when getting in touch with their personal physicians, participating in online conversations on social networks when the “real” user is absent, as well as stand for celebrities which do not have enough time to engage with their fans more personally.
• PAI wants to remove any central authority or a third party from the process by which the ownership of the users’ digital assets is established. Each person that creates a PAI avatar on the blockchain will be a sole owner, manager and controlling authority over the assets they bring to the network. This particularly refers to the profiling data gathered on the PAI blockchain, which will not be handled by any external organization or authority. By analogy, the amount of compensation the user is entitled to will not be determined by a corporation or any other party, since PAI’s decentralized system focuses on transparency in tracking the supply and demand for particular assets and their amount which is being contributed. The same goes for the activities the users undertake on the network, such as providing their computing resources for the improvement of the AI algorithms and verifying data submitted by other users.

How Are PAIs Created?

The PAI network’s modus operandi is based on the creation of personal PAIs which is a multi-stage process:

• First, users need to verify their ID.
• Users can use their smartphones to make a regular self-portrait image (“selfie”) which gets transformed into a PAI on their device within seconds.
• The users are sent a collection of sentences forming a script they need to read in order to provide their PAI avatar with the ability to speak in their voice.
• This basic form of PAI needs to be reviewed and verified by the PAI authenticators which are compensated with PAI tokens for their work.
• PAIs are accessed on mobile Android and iOS devices with the help of applications which support working with PAIs on the dedicated blockchain. Applications are made by developers who can extend the support for PAI to various services.
• If the users lose or damage the devices they store their PAI profiles or tokens on, they can recover both with the use of the 12-word secure phrase they create once they finish up their PAI.

How Does PAI Network Manage Data?

In addition to the use of selfies and voice samples for the creation of a personal PAI, the final virtual avatar will profit from the sourcing of additional types of data, including biometrics and videos. Once a PAI becomes operational, it will immediately start evolving towards a more detailed personal profile, such as the one based on interaction with other PAIs, medical and financial data, use of loyalty programs, its interaction with the Internet of Things (IoT) etc.

It is important to mention that all the data are being collected and verified only with the exclusive permission of the PAI owner. The same goes for the users’ approval for the AI engine to gain access to the data it needs to build a more detailed PAI profile. The users can also set permission levels for the amount of data which is being given, with an option to share more data or resources for the benefit of PAI blockchain or PAI developers in exchange for receiving compensation for it in form of PAI tokens.

What Is Proof of You on the PAI?

Proof of You (POY) is a process in which the creation of individual PAIs is authenticated. The verification of each PAI involves checking two main components by an authorized authenticator:

• Initiation of the PAI creation process by the same person whose PAI profile is being verified.
• Confirmation that the same person completed this process so that a PAI can be attributed to that specific user.

In essence, the same components involved in the creation of an elementary PAI, such as the person’s portrait and voice, are used to verify identification by authenticators. The authentication mechanism protects the validity of the PoY procedure by using the consensus system based on CAPTCHA and cross-validation. Based on this, the PAI developers hope to prevent the creation of PAIs with false identities and leave full control over these digital representation in the hands of the users.

Authentication of PAIs is a prerequisite to having the actual avatars deployed on the PAI blockchain. The authenticators are required to undergo the PoY proceedings themselves in order to be authorized to carry out authentications. Each registered user on the PAI blockchain is eligible to become an authenticator – those who successfully pass the PoY checkup will be given a dedicated app for the verification of all submitted PAIs. In exchange, they will be rewarded with PAI coins for the services they provide.

PAI Blockchain and Current Applications

In order to allow the users across the globe to manage their PAI from any location, all of the created profiles are stored on the PAI blockchain which functions as their repository. The blockchain itself is built around several layers:

• Authentication layer
• Network layer
• Storage layer
• AI layer

Decentralized applications and services supporting the interaction with PAIs are also found on the PAI blockchain. Their use involves paying related fees in PAI tokens.

At the moment, the number of applications in use is limited, but some of them are already being developed. ObEN, the company which launched the PAI project, has already established partnerships with companies such as Tencent to allow for the integration of PAI with WeChat services, with added support for the VR communication. Similar projects are already under way for the live language interpretation, with the users’ avatars being used as the representatives of interpreters in business negotiations, for example. There are plans to integrate PAIs with dating applications as well.

PAI Token and Team

As of April 2019, the PAI’s market cap was valued at more than USD 100 million, with more than 1.4 billion PAI (out of 1.58 billion) being in circulation. PAI is also available for trading on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bitfinex and others. Acquired tokens can be stored in PAI Up, a decentralized wallet that also supports sending and receiving PAI coins.

Project PAI was launched with the help of several individuals who worked as developers and blockchain engineers prior to taking their posts as part of the project. Technical advisor to the PAI is Alex Waters who was involved in the Bitcoin Core development.