A16z, a leading venture capital firm, has led a $43 million Series A fundraising round for Gensyn, a provider of blockchain-based computing resources for AI platforms.The protocol created by the U.K.-based business enables programmers to create AI systems on smaller data centers, gaming machines, and other connected gear while also allowing for on-demand payment.Gensysn makes use of a cryptographic verification network that enables users to verify the accuracy of machine learning work shared across a protocol without the need for middlemen.
According to a news statement from Gensysn on Monday (UTC), co-founder Ben Fielding, “the realization of its (AI’s) potential requires huge computational power.”We’re harnessing the electricity of the new age and making it available to everyone at unlimited scale and fair market prices.”According to Fielding, having such broad accessibility was “essential” for preventing the development of dangerously biased technology that served the majority while being created by the minority. Allowing everyone in the world to contribute to AI development is the key to useful, aligned AI.Harry Grieve, a co-founder of Gensyn, added in the statement that “with decentralized networks, value simply accrues to the network as a function of supply and demand.”
He added that by linking previously underutilized hardware from throughout the world, “it also sharply increases the amount of compute supply. “The development comes at a time when interest in AI is on the rise and could potentially change how organizations in a variety of sectors, including media, retail, manufacturing, and financial services, conduct their operations.A $1 trillion valuation was attained by computer chipmaker Nvidia last month. Nvidia’s products are essential for the graphics processing units (GPUs) at the center of AI systems. With its most recent round, Gensyn raised more than $50 million. The company stated that it will utilize the additional funding to hasten the adoption of the protocol and to hire more protocol and machine learning engineers.A16z was joined in the round by renowned investment companies CoinFund, Canonical Crypto, Protocol Labs, Eden Block, as well as a number of venture capitalists and angel investors with an interest in AI and cryptocurrencies.
In a statement, a16z crypto General Partner Ali Yahya stated, “The recent advancements in AI are incredible, but substantial computational power requirements give big technology companies an advantage over startups in the race to capture AI’s value.”“We look forward to partnering with Gensyn to make infrastructure for AI much more widely accessible,” the authors write. “We believe nobody combines the knowledge and cultural understanding of both the AI and crypto cypherpunk worlds better than Gensyn.”