San Francisco, USA, September 9, 2024, Chainwire
The innovative startup from Core Research, Google (NASDAQ:) Brain, Stanford, MIT, and CMU aims to democratize on-device intelligence by giving users control over their personal AI and receiving investments from a16z CSX (NASDAQ:), Hack VC, and investors from projects like , Polygon, Near, Worldcoin, etc.
PIN AI, a pioneering AI infrastructure company, announces $10M seed funding to develop the world’s first open-source Personal Intelligence Network (PIN). A16z CSX, Hack VC, and prominent investors including Blockchain Builders Fund (Stanford Blockchain Accelerator), Illia Polosukhin (author of the Transformer paper; founder of the NEAR protocol), Anagram/Lily Liu (President of the SOL Foundation), Symbolic Capital (co-founder of Polygon), Evan Cheng (CEO of Mysten Labs/SUI), dcbuilder (Worldcoin Foundation), Foresight Ventures (parent company of Block), Nomad Capital, Tim Shi (co-founder of Cresta), Ben Fisch (CEO of Espresso), Scott Moore (co-founder of Gitcoin), Alumni Ventures, and Dispersion Capital have backed the project.
Offering an open-source, Web3-enabled alternative to Apple (NASDAQ:) Intelligence, the PIN AI platform turns smartphones into privacy-focused personal AI assistants. By redirecting profits from users’ data and attention, it empowers them to take back control and monetize their data. The platform leverages personal contextual data and cryptography, deploying cutting-edge on-device AI models to handle tasks across apps such as shopping, ordering food, managing wealth, and interacting with centralized exchanges, DeFi, and prediction markets.
This AI-powered assistant ensures robust privacy and user-controlled data management, disrupting the ultra-profitable models of Web2 giants, including taking a 30% cut of Apple’s app revenue (over $100 billion) and cutting Google’s mobile advertising and Android store revenue.
Davide Crapis, Co-Founder and Director of Protocol Research, said: “We are building a movement towards an open source future where AI personal assistants can run on the PIN AI platform as smart contracts on Ethereum.” He added: “PIN AI will take back the $100+ billion in profits from the tech giants and give it back to users, allowing them to control and monetize their data. Our platform offers access to a broader range of AI agents, developed by the open source community, capable of handling tasks in popular applications.”
PIN AI’s mission is to foster innovation for personal AI agents by offering access to personal and contextual data that reflects the needs and preferences of individual users. Unlike closed ecosystems like Apple’s, PIN AI’s open platform connects privacy-protected user data through a layer-2 blockchain. This allows for greater flexibility in developing AI applications without the limitations of traditional closed systems.
Bill Sun, co-founder and chief scientist, said, “On-device multimodal models will revolutionize daily life. We are creating a personal index for each user to create an on-device model that evolves through distributed training on the user’s phone. Soon, users will not need to open multiple apps to complete tasks. The personal AI assistant will understand preferences and handle tasks efficiently.” The PIN AI assistant will connect users to apps and services that offer on its blockchain protocol to perform tasks such as shopping or crypto activities.
PIN AI shifts data monetization from big tech companies to users, enabling secure monetization of personal data. Users receive token incentives through data ingestion and intent fulfillment, providing only the necessary data to the relevant personal AI agents, while maintaining control of their information.
At launch, PIN AI is partnering with Worldcoin and is developing a Siri-like front-end product, expanding its reach and improving the user experience.
The team is led by co-founders Davide Crapis and Ben Wu. Crapis, a former member of Ethereum Core Research, leads Protocol Research. Ben Wu, in charge of Strategy, is an MIT graduate, Y Combinator alumnus, and serial entrepreneur. Technical leadership includes Bill Sun, a Stanford PhD in AI and mathematics and a pioneering Google Brain researcher, as Chief AI Scientist, and Regan Peng, a CMU graduate and former head of Didi Fintech and Yahoo Data Infra, as Founding Director of Engineering.
PIN AI collaborates with a16z crypto research, Flashbots, Espresso Systems, and academics from Stanford, Columbia, and NYU. Ben Wu emphasized the importance of an open platform, saying, “The open internet has made great language models possible. We need to build an open platform for users on their trusted device, enabling access to their diverse data, making their personal AI possible.” Unlike Apple Intelligence, PIN AI’s system can run on low-spec smartphones by dynamically switching between edge (on-device) AI and server AI to optimize performance, ensuring broad accessibility.
The funding will expand research, grow the team of AI and blockchain experts, and accelerate the deployment of PIN AI’s technology. The company will join the a16z CSX Fall 2024 cohort in New York City.
About PIN AI
PIN AI is developing an open-source personal AI operating system that leverages smartphone and app data to give users control and privacy. The company’s approach aims to connect AI developers with users, promoting data sovereignty and developer empowerment. PIN AI collaborates with Ethereum Core Research and is committed to privacy and innovation.
For more updates, please visit pinai.io, X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, Discord, and Linkedin.
ContactPIN AI[email protected]
This article was originally published on Chainwire
