Sentient, a pioneering blockchain-based artificial intelligence (AI) organization, has completed one of the biggest non-fungible token minting campaigns in the history of cryptocurrency, with over 650,000 participants in the 650K NFT mint for AI. The mint provides participants with the opportunity to gain partial ownership of Dobby, the first loyal AI model in the world, via the distribution of a non-fungible token (NFT).
Using the NFT, users can later claim model ownership and model fingerprints. Fingerprints require users to prove their humanity by assigning a randomized IQ test to mint a Fingerprint that provides access to fractional ownership and access to the AI model, all in an effort to build a community-controlled AI protocol.
Dobby has Made Waves in the AI Industry
The emergence of DeepSeek, an AI model that rivals OpenAI’s performance despite being constructed on a $6 million budget and using few GPUs, coincides with Sentient’s groundbreaking engagement rate. The launch of DeepSeek, which is open-source and powerful enough to operate on smartphones, has caused market volatility and affected cryptocurrency tokens and AI stocks.
AI model training and ownership have advanced thanks to Sentient’s cutting-edge fingerprinting technology. Communities can impose ownership over publicly available models and confirm model authenticity thanks to their distinctive digital signatures. Sentient launched after completing a seed round of $85 million, which was co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
How does Fingerprinting Work?
When a model is fingerprinted, the AI model is directly updated with a query-response pair. The community can recognize the model and flag any unauthorized use because the AI model will always respond to the same fingerprinted query. To demonstrate the validity of use and stop infringement, Sentient developed this tamper-resistant device. The fingerprinting initiative furthers Sentient’s goal of creating a completely decentralized community-controlled artificial intelligence system, or Loyal AI.
Sentient’s first loyal AI model, Dobby, will be jointly owned by fingerprinting campaign participants. Users will be able to assert model ownership and fingerprints through the distributed NFT. As keys to the model’s distinct identity, these fingerprints allow owners to confirm proper use and uphold ownership. A precedent for decentralizing authority and control over sophisticated AI systems is established by the campaign.
Sentient places a higher priority on open-source and core decentralized models than other businesses do on AI agents. The organization guarantees alignment with the values of the communities by implanting loyalty into the AI brain, laying the groundwork for integrity and trust.
According to Sandeep Nailwal, the founder of Polygon and a main contributor to Sentient, when AGI or ASI emerges, it should be community-controlled and community-owned to ensure its loyalty. He explained that Sentient’s fingerprinting mechanism allows communities to enforce ownership, control, and alignment of open-source AI models, which incentivizes communities to come together and build high-quality open-source models. He added that in the long run, the goal is to ensure that instead of a large institution having exclusive control over a closed-source AGI, AGI should be open-source and owned by everyone both individually and collectively.
Sentient’s Mission
Sentient aims to extend far beyond Dobby. The organization is unwavering in its conviction that the current course of corporately controlled, centralized AI growth is unsustainable as it reimagines the future of AI. Sentient’s plan for Loyal AI opposes this current state of affairs by promoting an open, community-driven method of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI). The latest updates on the fingerprinting campaign will be shared on Discord and X of Sentient.