Why I Left Google's AI Department to Go All in on Blockchain

Author: Michelle Choi (Former Google Product Manager)

Compiled by: Cointime Candice

With the rise of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence is thriving, while the crypto crash is rampant. So why haven’t I stopped thinking about blockchain?

Artificial intelligence is currently the golden spoon of the tech world. AI tools like ChatGPT are now mature enough to pass MBA and medical licensing exams, with nearly 30% of surveyed professionals reporting that they have used ChatGPT to draft emails or code.

Meanwhile, the sentiment around blockchain is pessimistic. This is understandable after countless individuals lost their life savings in price crashes and the collapse of centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.

I have worked in both fields. I was initially a product manager in Google’s Research and Machine Intelligence division, developing a product to diagnose patients with preventable eye diseases. I transitioned unexpectedly when I discovered that blockchain could be used for fundraising.

Given the current momentum of AI applications and the steep resistance against blockchain, I am often asked why I made the switch.

The answer is simple:

When AI empowers individuals, blockchain can empower the collective.

Without specific applications, technology is meaningless: a hammer looks clumsy before it is used to build a house. So what are the applications of AI and blockchain, respectively? In short:

Let’s analyze this with real examples from my experience.

AI: Empowering Individual Power

At Google, I developed a product that assesses the risk of blindness in patients based on images of the back of their eyes. Doctors used the following tools to generate a dataset of over 100,000 images and their associated disease conditions:

After training on this dataset, the AI could diagnose patients with about 90% accuracy. While the AI's performance was on par with expert physicians, it had two significant improvements:

a. Speed: The model outputs diagnostic results in seconds, while humans take about 10 minutes, increasing the number of diagnosed cases by 100 times.

b. Quality: The AI consistently outperformed inexperienced and overly stressed doctors because it was trained on a much larger dataset and is immune to fatigue.

This use case highlights the key value proposition of AI: replacing or accelerating mundane and/or error-prone human labor.

The impact of introducing AI into this workflow is evident: by offloading time-consuming, repetitive image recognition tasks to AI, doctors can focus on what they do best: interacting with patients. We found that AI does not replace humans but enhances individual capabilities through the time and energy saved by handling lower-level tasks.

ChatGPT is expected to empower more individuals. Writers and developers leveraging ChatGPT will allow computers to handle the mundane, creating more space for creative thinking. I have personally experienced this shift by generating striking images for this article on MidJourney and using ChatGPT to optimize my article for SEO.

I firmly believe in the power of AI to empower individuals and had planned to continue my tech career in this field. What made me leave?

1. My Unexpected Encounter with Blockchain: Museum Volunteer

While I was clear about the value proposition of AI when I joined Google, my foray into blockchain was quite accidental. I never understood the significance of cryptocurrency; when my father gifted me ETH in 2018, I accused him of gambling and sold it all when I thought it peaked at $28.

But during COVID, I began volunteering for a museum. One-third of museums in the U.S. face the risk of permanent closure, and as an art lover, I wanted to reverse this trend. While researching nonprofit fundraising strategies, I stumbled upon an unexpected solution: blockchain.

If I donate to a museum (or any cause) today, I have no idea if the money is distributed as promised. It is entirely up to the organization, and I have no say in how the funds are allocated.

Blockchain disrupts this model. As a quick review, forget any overly complex terms you’ve heard defining blockchain. Blockchain is like any other database (recording entries, such as transactions) but without a single entity controlling it (decentralized).

Due to its decentralized nature, blockchain ensures transparency in fundraising activities. Traditional fundraisers track transactions in centralized databases controlled by banks or fundraisers. These databases are managed by owners, who are the only ones with access, meaning donors are left in the dark. In contrast, anyone can view records on a public blockchain, holding fundraisers accountable for the proper allocation of the funds they raise.

Driving fundraising entities to achieve transparency is already a significant improvement over the status quo. But the true power of blockchain emerges when there is no centralized fundraising entity at all.

2. A Donor-Managed Fundraising Organization

Imagine your hometown suffers a natural disaster, and thousands of people are without food or water. You want to help, but you want to ensure your money goes to actions you believe in.

In the current scenario, your only option is to donate to a fundraising entity (like a nonprofit or campaign) and pray: a) they will consider your opinion, b) they will use the money as promised. This requires a great deal of trust in a group of people you’ve never met.

But what if you could donate to a fundraising organization completely managed by its donors rather than a third party? In addition to providing a transparent and secure database, many blockchains also support an additional feature: voting rights. Blockchain has built-in logic that automatically allocates funds based on voting results.

For example, a blockchain-driven fundraiser could use a majority vote to assess suggestions on how to allocate the collected funds. One donor proposes paying Company X for rebuilding homes. Another donor suggests hiring Company Y. If the majority votes in favor of Company Y, the funds tracked on the blockchain will automatically be paid to Company Y. Thus, funds flow from donors to operators without any intermediaries, while automatically accounting for the donors' contributions.

As a donor, you no longer need to rely on a fundraising entity to ensure your donation is appropriately allocated. This use case highlights the utility of blockchain in coordinating people without requiring mutual trust.

3. Blockchain: Empowering Collective Power

I remain skeptical about most blockchain use cases and products. Unregulated speculation in cryptocurrencies and NFTs has destroyed countless lives, and most blockchain products feel like they are built by half-mechanics for other half-mechanics. The field needs a massive reform in values and user experience to achieve meaningful impact and adoption.

Despite my skepticism, my experience in blockchain fundraising has given me valuable insights into the potential of the technology: by automatically and transparently handling tasks that require high trust (like fund disbursement), blockchain enables collectives to manage themselves without relying on third parties.

Since the team’s database tracks activities (like transactions and voting) in a decentralized manner and the voting results are automatically executed, there is no need to find a trustworthy "leader" or administrator; self-organization is entirely feasible.

4. Now that I have worked in both fields (blockchain and AI), what’s next?

It is impossible to predict whether blockchain and AI will have a greater social impact. They are merely tools, and their legacy entirely depends on how those tools are utilized (or misused).

However, if the tech world continues to cling to its negative applications while obsessing over AI, blockchain will have no chance. If builders are scared away by this distorted sentiment, meaningful applications of blockchain will never see the light of day. Given that I believe blockchain is a powerful tool for organizing collectives, I plan to continue sharing the potential of using blockchain technology correctly.