Davos: Could New Interest in AI Help Boost Blockchain Tech?

The yearly World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brings together some of the most influential people in business and technology. This year, the focus is on the potential of artificial intelligence (AI).

ChatGPT’s impressive performance and the crypto market crash have taken the spotlight away from blockchain tech at the event.

However, World Economic Forum experts and major institutions believe AI and blockchain could synergize well. If true, the sudden spike of interest in AI could help boost interest in blockchain as well.

The 23rd edition of the WEF is largely focusing on AI and its potential applications. This is no surprise, as Open.AI recently released its ChatGPT language model. The model, which produces dialogue that’s often impossible to distinguish from human responses, has been available to the public since November 2022.

Moreover, ChatGPT has a large volume of information and can give sensible answers to questions about a wide range of topics.

OpenAI’s impressive tool ChatGPT has captured the imagination of the CEOs, venture capitalists, and other experts in attendance. They are convinced that AI has the potential to be a game-changer in technology.

The development of AI could help businesses reduce costs, provide better service, and improve customer experience. Moreover, AI-driven automation could help boost productivity in sectors, particularly white-collar work.

At the same time, there is a notable drop in the visibility of crypto firms at the event. The crypto market crash has impacted companies’ marketing efforts in the space, and blockchain initiatives have taken a back seat.

However, the sudden spike in interest in AI may boost blockchain as well. Notably, the World Economic Forum sees both artificial intelligence and blockchain as technologies that could shape the future.

Several WEF experts think these two technologies are complementary and can boost each other. Combining AI with blockchain tech could lead to important synergies and create a powerful combination in technology.

For instance, one expert highlighted the potential of blockchain tech and AI in marine conservation.

"Technologies like blockchain - the distributed ledger technology that underpins the bitcoin currency - could help enforce the new treaty by tracking fishing on the high seas and identifying illegal behavior," said Dominic Waughray, head of WEF Center for Global Public Goods. 

At the same time, AI could help reduce the cost of monitoring the seas for illegal activity.

Blockchain tech could also help tackle some of the problems that come with the exponential development of AI. One of these is deepfakes, or videos showing real people that are completely artificially generated.

As deepfakes improve, it will be even harder to distinguish between them and genuine videos. This is already causing real problems. For example, scammers are using deepfakes of Elon Musk to promote fake giveaways.

Blockchain could provide the transparency needed to identify deepfakes, and help ensure that AI-generated media won’t be misused. 

AI has already impacted the crypto space and found some practical applications. For example, some traders are using ChatGPT to write AI trading bots to make more accurate predictions of the crypto markets.

AI tools can also scan the market for potential risks and opportunities. This could help investors act on important market shifts and make more profitable trades. On the other hand, hackers have already used ChatGPT to create malware.

Others are exploring the potential of building decentralized AI networks using blockchain technology. So far, AI systems have been in the hands of Big Tech firms. Microsoft is planning to invest $10 billion in OpenAI.

Decentralized AI networks could be used to prevent big tech firms from having too much power over AI. Using blockchain technology to distribute control, these projects could create more trust in AI.

AI and blockchain could help shape the future of technology. We will likely see more projects exploring the synergy between these two expanding technologies.