Gensyn, a provider of blockchain-based computing resources for artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, secured $43 million in Series A funding, led by venture capital giant a16z.
The UK-based company's protocol allows developers to build AI systems on smaller data centers, personal gaming computers and other connected hardware and pay on demand. Gensysn uses a cryptographic verification network that, without the need for intermediaries, allows users to determine that the shared machine learning work on the protocol has been successfully completed.
"Realizing its (AI) potential requires enormous computing power," Gensysn co-founder Ben Fielding said in a press release on Monday (UTC). “We are harnessing the electricity of a new age and making it available to everyone on an unlimited scale and at fair market prices.”
Fielding said such widespread accessibility was "essential" to avoid "dangerously biased technology serving the many but built by the few". The key to useful and aligned AI is to allow everyone in the world to contribute to its development. »
In the release, Gensyn co-founder Harry Grieve also noted that “with decentralized networks, value simply flows back to the network based on supply and demand.”
“It also dramatically increases the amount of compute supply by connecting previously underutilized hardware from around the world,” he said.
The announcement comes amid growing interest in AI, which could potentially transform the way businesses operate in various industries, including media, retail, manufacturing and financial services. Last month, computer chipmaker Nvidia, whose products are integral to the graphics processing units (GPUs) at the heart of AI systems, reached a valuation of $1 trillion.
With its latest round, Gensyn has raised more than $50 million, and the company said it will use the new capital to accelerate the introduction of the protocol and to expand its workforce, including adding protocol engineers and in machine learning. Prominent investment firms CoinFund, Canonical Crypto, Protocol Labs, Eden Block, and a variety of venture capitalists and AI and crypto angels have joined a16z in the round.
“Recent advancements in AI are incredible, but the substantial computing power requirements give big tech companies an edge over startups in the race to capture the value of AI,” said Ali Yahya, general partner at 'a16z crypto, in a statement. "We believe that no one combines the knowledge and cultural understanding of the worlds of AI and crypto cypherpunk better than Gensyn, and we look forward to partnering with them to make AI infrastructure much more widely accessible. "