SingularityNET (AGIX): Blockchain-based AI Marketplace

Did you know that SingularityNET was created by the same people who created the Sophia Robot, a robot with the intelligence of a standard IQ human? This platform is designed to be decentralized and based on blockchain technology, and it aims to enable the open and collaborative creation, sharing, and management of artificial intelligence (AI). It’s pretty amazing, right? In this article, you’ll learn more about SingularityNET (AGIX) and how it functions.

Article Summary

• SingularityNET is a marketplace for AI products that runs on the blockchain. The platform aims to ease the developers to create, share, and monetize AI services and applications.
• Various AI products that can be found on SingularityNET are SongSplitter, Real-Time Voice Cloning, Multilingual Speech Translation, and others.
• SingularityNET combines business and research by utilizing AI applications. It creates a new industry incentivizing anyone to create or contribute to AI projects.
• The platform runs on Ethereum and Cardano blockchain technology to protect data, making it a secure marketplace for AI services.
• AGIX is the native token of the SingularityNET project, which serves as one of the platform’s currencies.

Overview of AI and AGI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a programmed replication of human intelligence in machines to perform tasks such as problem-solving, decision-making, perception, and natural language processing.

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the simulation of human intelligence in a machine. AGI can perform any intellectual task that humans can perform across multiple domains. AGIs are sometimes called “strong AI” and have the ability to learn any intellectual task that humans can perform and apply that knowledge to various tasks. While the development of AGI is still being researched and considered a possibility in the future, the SingularityNet Ecosystem views the emergence of AGI as a near certainty.

block-heading joli-heading" id="what-is-singularitynet-agix">What is SingularityNET (AGIX)?

ingularityNet is a platform that connects AI services with blockchain or decentralized networks. This platform allows developers to publish their AI services and make them accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Users can then access these services for various purposes, such as image and emotion recognition services, object detection, speech recognition, and more. Developers can charge users for their services using a token called AGIX. Therefore, SingularityNET is often referred to as an AI services marketplace.

Essentially, SingularityNET serves as a commercial launchpad for AI-based decentralized applications (dApps) through increased interoperability between networks. Additionally, this project is also an open-source AI-based infrastructure that enables the use of smart contracts for developers to build AI products for end users without intermediaries.

SingularityNET also has a mission to create decentralized, democratic, and inclusive artificial general intelligence (AGI). You may be familiar with SingularityNet because the company was founded by the same people who created Robot Sophia. A robot that has human-like intelligence with standard IQ. The robot applies AGI in its system.

SingularityNET was founded in 2017 by a chief scientist, Dr. Ben Goertzel, and the founder of Hanson Robotics and creator of Robot Sophia, Robert Hanson. The project boasts an ambitious team made up of researchers, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and marketers.

SingularityNET runs on the Ethereum and Cardano blockchains. In 2021, the platform announced a hard fork to the Cardano network to improve the renewability of its system. At the same time, the AGI token, which is SingularityNET's native token, was also changed to AGIX.

Read also What is Cardano (ADA)?

Reasons SingularityNET was founded

Most AI research today is controlled by large corporations with the resources to fund development projects. It means that independent developers of AI projects have no accessible way to monetize their creations. Usually, their most lucrative option is to sell their project to one of the big tech companies. It leads to more concentrated control of the technology.

The open-source SingularityNET protocol and SingularityNET smart contract are designed to solve this problem. Developers can launch their AI projects on this network platform, and users can reach out for their services.

SingularityNET brings business and research by utilizing AI applications. It creates a new industry incentivizing anyone to create or contribute to AI projects.

The SingularityNET platform can also be considered as a decentralized AI oracle for companies and developers to provide or consume AI services. It also bridges developers and business users in building a platform focused on AI solutions.

How does SingularityNET Work?

SingularityNet is a marketplace for artificial intelligence (AI) that uses blockchain technology. It allows developers to easily share and sell AI services using a public website and decentralized marketplace. Anyone can join and become an “AI agent” in the network. These agents can perform tasks and communicate with each other to share data.

AI agents are entities that execute smart contracts on the platform. It is the most common node on the network.

SingularityNet also provides AI services to users, which means they can use AI services at a much lower cost than buying from large tech companies.

Some of the components that work within the SingularityNET system, as shown in the diagram above, include the following:

Registry

The Registry is a smart contract for AI developers to describe the types of AI services they provide to users. In other words, the Registry is also where AI service providers register on the platform, which involves providing text descriptions, pricing information, and location points to allow users to contact their services..

Users use the Registry to find the services they need. When a user searches for a service in the dApp marketplace, the dApp reads the service details from the Registry. The Registry also allows tagging of services and repository types to perform searching and filtering.

Multi-party Escrow

Multi-party escrow (MPE) is a smart contract that organizes payment transactions in the marketplace through an escrow account. The system uses a unidirectional atomic payment channel to ensure a fast and cheap task-completion process.

MPE has two main functions, namely:

• As a simple wallet for depositing and withdrawing funds.
• As a unidirectional atomic payment channel between AI service providers and users.

A payment channel is a tool that enables off-chain transactions between parties without delays caused by block formation time on the blockchain and without compromising transaction security.

Daemon

The Daemon is an essential component as an off-chain side proxy for developers who want to provide AI services over the internet. The Daemon facilitates developers by managing all interactions with other components, such as smart contracts, payments, and validating user requests.

For payments, the Daemon interacts with the Multi-Party Escrow smart contract to validate the user’s signature and ensure that funds are available for a successful transaction. Once the payment request is processed, Daemon will translate it into an AI-readable format.

It also performs other functional tasks, allowing the developer to concentrate on the AI service. It can be said that Daemon is a helper program that works alongside the AI service. Each AI service needs its own Daemon.

Read also Introduction to DApps and Smart Contract Technologies.

Technology on SingularityNET

AI Marketplace

SingularityNET Marketplace is a dApp that contains various AI services by independent developers. The platform helps you interact with these services through a web interface. All collections of AI services have been curated and approved by the SingularityNET Foundation as high-quality services. You can purchase access to AI services on the dApp Marketplace using AGIX tokens on crypto wallets like MetaMask or US dollars on general wallets like Paypal.

One of the featured apps in the marketplace is SongSplitter, a music app that separates the vocals and music in a song. This app is available on android smartphones and is connected to the SingularityNET system. Users can purchase through an Ethereum wallet and use AGIX tokens to access this application.

Besides SongSplitter, some of the products available in this marketplace are Real-Time Voice Cloning, Multilingual Speech Translation, Philosophic Text Generation, and several others.

Note: This marketplace is still in beta.

AI Publisher

AI publishers can share AI services on the AI marketplace to reach a wider audience and earn revenue. It helps developers find more users from all over the world.

Advantages of AI Publisher:

• Quickly launch AI services
• Store and organize AI in a single interface
• Provide new AI experiences for developers by tracking consumer AI service usage to improve AI services

AGIX Staking

AGIX staking is the process of locking up SingularityNET’s native token, AGIX, for a reward to support the sustainability of the AI marketplace. It can also be a “liquidity pool” of AGIX tokens to facilitate the exchange of AGIX for fiat money.

As mentioned earlier, SingularityNET accepts crypto (AGIX) and fiat money (US dollars) as payment. When a user pays for AI services using fiat money, the system will convert the fiat money into AGIX to pay for the AI agent. Then, when the developer or AI service provider requests payment in fiat money, AGIX must be converted into fiat.

The fiat-AGIX and AGIX-fiat exchange operators should have AGIX tokens and fiat money so that when someone needs to exchange AGIX for fiat, he has the fiat; and vice versa, when someone needs to exchange fiat for AGIX, he has AGIX.

You can stake AGIX tokens for 30 days. At the end of the 30-day period, you can continue to keep the tokens locked or withdraw them along with the rewards earned during the staking period.

OpenCog Hyperion

The SingulairtyNET team’s long-term vision is to build complex AI Agent interaction networks, primarily using resources from the OpenCog Foundation.

OpenCog Hyperon is a new and improved version of the artificial intelligence system called OpenCog. The system is open-source, which means it is available for anyone to use and modify. Hyperon is designed to be faster, more flexible, and easier to learn.

Hyperon uses different AI strategies such as machine learning and neuro-symbolic AI and allows them to work together. It also has a decentralized architecture, which means it can take full advantage of blockchain technology. This new version of OpenCog is expected to have a big impact on AI, as faster computer processors and larger data sets have helped machine learning in the past.

Hyperion’s OpenCog has a specialized programming language called MeTTa (Meta Type Talk). MeTTa is designed to be a very practical and advanced programming language. It has most of the structures that are commonly found in other programming languages and has various advanced methods from programming language theory.

By the end of 2022, the project is already at the stage of intermediate research and development. In addition, the MeTTa language of OpenCog Hyperon transitioned from the prototype stage to the first pre-alpha through the standardization of its core elements.

Advantages of SingularityNET

• Marketplace for AI Services: SingularityNET provides a marketplace for developers to sell their AI projects. Buyers can test any AI service on the marketplace before completing the payment.
• Request for AI (RFAI) feature: Users can request for specific AI services through the Request for AI (RFAI) portal. Developers who fulfill these requests are paid in AGIX tokens as compensation.
• Affordable: SingularityNET (AGIX) is an affordable platform for developers who want to build AI services. The platform allows developers to deploy AI services without the high cost of traditional cloud.
• Scalable: SingularityNET (AGIX) is designed to be scalable, which means developers can build AI services that can be easily scaled up or down.
• Secure: The platform uses blockchain technology to protect data.

Buying Cryptocurrencies in Pintu

Currently, AGIX tokens cannot be traded through Pintu yet. Therefore, stay tuned to Pintu’s channels for further information regarding the listing of AGIX tokens. In the meantime, you can invest in various crypto assets such as BTC, ETH, SOL, and others safely and easily.

Pintu is also compatible with popular wallets such as Metamask to facilitate your transactions. Download Pintu app on Play Store and App Store! Your security is guaranteed because Pintu is regulated and supervised by Bappebti and Kominfo.

In addition to executing transactions, in the Pintu Apps, you can also learn more about crypto through various Pintu Academy articles which are updated every week! All Pintu Academy articles are made for knowledge and educational purposes, not as financial advice.

References

1. SingulatiyNET Team, SingularityNET A Decentralized, Open Market and Network for AIs, Whitepaper SingularityNET, accessed 7 Maret 2023.
2. Janet Adams, SingularityNET Operations — Q4 2022 Update, Medium, accessed 7 Maret 2023.
3. Ibby Benali, SingularityNET Phase II Launch Sequence Activated: AGI token to be hard-forked to Cardano-compatible AGIX, Medium, accessed 7 Maret 2023.
4. Steve Walters, SingularityNET (AGI) Review: AI Meets Blockchain Tech, Coin Bureau, accessed 7 Maret 2023.
5. Matt Ikle, SingularityNET’s 2022 Progress Towards AGI, Medium, accessed 7 Maret 2023.