a16z CSX leads $6 million investment, a comprehensive understanding of the decentralized AI data project ORO AI | CryptoSeed

Author: Patti, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

Recently, the private data AI project ORO AI announced the completion of a $6 million seed round financing, led by a16z Crypto (CSX) and Delphi Ventures, with participation from Ocular VC, Orange DAO, NEAR Protocol, and 0G Labs.

As is well known, CSX is a16z crypto's acceleration program specifically designed for early-stage blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. CSX 04 launched the fourth cohort of the Crypto Startup Accelerator program at the beginning of April and stated that in the coming two months, the founders of selected companies will receive firsthand guidance and support from a16z crypto's investment and operations team. a16z CSX also committed to investing at least $500,000 in each selected company, and the decentralized AI platform ORO AI is one of them.

So, what is it about the decentralized AI platform ORO AI that has attracted the attention of top investment firm a16z crypto in this liquidity-scarce environment? Let's find out.

What is ORO AI?

ORO AI is a decentralized AI platform aimed at unlocking high-quality, private data for advanced AI models. Its founding team members come from Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Scale AI, Replit, Salesforce, Google DeepMind, Amazon AI, and Binance.

Currently, most AI models rely on public data, which often lacks depth and diversity, making it difficult to train truly intelligent AI. ORO AI has identified this pain point and proposed an innovative solution to enhance AI model quality using private data. ORO AI aims to enable individuals to securely contribute their private data through blockchain technology and privacy protection protocols, and receive appropriate rewards during the AI model training process.

Project Mechanism: Data Sharing and Privacy Protection

Private data refers to highly personalized and sensitive data generated by individuals in their daily lives and work, which contains rich contextual information and deep signals that can significantly enhance AI model performance. However, due to privacy and security concerns, this data has not been effectively utilized.

The emergence of ORO AI provides an effective solution for utilizing this data.

In fact, the project mechanism of ORO AI mainly consists of two aspects: a data sharing application and a privacy protection blockchain protocol.

Data Sharing Application

ORO AI's data sharing application is a gamified app where users can connect their accounts (such as social media, finance, health, etc.) and complete fun challenges, referred to as "tasks." These tasks collect specific data needed by AI companies, such as users' health data, consumption habits, social behaviors, and more.

Whenever users' data helps AI become smarter, they receive direct economic rewards for their contributions. Additionally, users can choose tasks based on their interests and needs, contributing data they consider valuable. ORO AI also makes the data contribution process engaging and rewarding through this gamified design, further enhancing user participation.

Privacy Protection Blockchain Protocol

To ensure the security and privacy of user data, ORO AI employs advanced privacy protection technologies, such as digital vaults, zkTLS, and secure computing environments, allowing AI to learn from user data in a secure vault without directly viewing users' private data.

Specifically, ORO AI's blockchain protocol uses encryption technology to store user data in secure vaults, and AI models can only access the encrypted forms of this data through specific interfaces. During training, AI models can only obtain statistical features or model weight updates from the data, without accessing the raw data.

Moreover, ORO AI's blockchain will maintain a public record of data contributions and rewards, which anyone can view to ensure users receive fair compensation for their data.

So, how can users participate in ORO?

Users can contribute data by completing data collection activities needed for AI development, such as completing specific tasks or linking their social accounts. Each data contribution earns users ORO points, which can help unlock "great value."

According to official data, over 350,000 people have joined the ORO waitlist, with early users primarily consisting of remote workers and cryptocurrency-native contributors.

To ensure an optimal early user experience, ORO has temporarily closed the waitlist registration.

Currently, ORO AI's official X follower count is 24,000, and the overall project is still in its early stages. With the disclosure of this $6 million financing round, ORO AI has made it into the top ten of rootdata's daily hot list.

a16z crypto partner Elizabeth Harkavy also publicly shared on her personal Twitter about the collaboration with ORO, expressing optimism about ORO's protection of private data, calling it a future killer application, and believing that ORO "will empower users with control over their private, secure data on devices and directly return the actual value of that data to users," which is also the reason a16z crypto chose to invest.

As Elizabeth Harkavy stated, we are at a significant crossroads in AI development, where private data represents the largest gap for developers to build new applications and address real-world problems more accurately.

Will ORO AI provide a new solution for the value release of private data and the rapid development of AI technology, becoming the next wave of killer applications?