Special edition: 11 AI x crypto crossovers
The economics of the internet are already changing. As the open web collapses into a prompt bar, we have to wonder: Will AI lead to an open internet or a maze of new paywalls? And who will control it, big centralized companies or broad communities of users?
That’s where crypto comes in.
The reality that crypto can help build better AI systems, and vice versa, isn’t new — but opportunities have often been poorly defined. So in this post, the a16z crypto team shares 11 use cases at the intersection of crypto and AI to help kickstart conversations about what’s possible, what challenges are left to solve, and more — grounded in technology already being built today.
We share six of them below — check out the full post for all 11 AI x crypto crossovers.
1. Persistent data and context in AI interactions
by Scott Duke Kominers
Generative AI thrives on data, but for many applications, context — the state and background information relevant to an interaction — is equally, if not more, important.
Ideally, any AI system would remember, for example, the kinds of projects you’re working on, your communication style, and your preferred programming languages. But in practice, users often have to reestablish this context across different applications and even across different interactions within a single application — like when you launch a new ChatGPT or Claude shell.
With blockchains, AI systems could enable key context elements to exist as persistent digital assets, which can be loaded in at the start of a session and transferred across platforms. In fact, blockchains are potentially the only solution to this problem that is both forwards-compatible and that also establishes a commitment to interoperability.
The ability to share this context layer would allow AI systems to understand our preferences immediately, and to fine-tune and optimize our experience. Enabling AI to reference persistent onchain context also creates the possibility of new and better marketplace interactions around prompts and information modules.
2. Forwards-compatible proof-of-personhood
by Jay Drain Jr. and Scott Duke Kominers
From X feed comment armies to bots on dating apps, pervasive AI agents are blurring the lines of reality. In this environment, proof of personhood becomes essential infrastructure. Crypto provides an elegant solution.
One way to prove you’re human is through digital IDs. But digital IDs — which encompass all of the things a person can
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.