AI has had an increasingly significant influence over daily life, with over 55% of Americans confirming they interact with AI at least once a day. This growing prevalence of AI in our daily routines is a preliminary step in developing broader debates about the appropriate role of AI within our lives and the many legal, ethical, and moral concerns that emerge with its increased usage. In response to these concerns, Sahara AI has built a decentralized blockchain platform focused on AI that aims to build the future of AI with a focus on security, equity, and accessibility. The platform offers infrastructure for provenance and sovereignty, frameworks for development, tools, a marketplace for data and assets, and storage solutions. Currently, the infrastructural framework for most AI development is being introduced by large tech conglomerates, raising questions about privacy, fair compensation for data usage, and algorithmic bias. Sahara AI seeks to level the playing field and ensure that AI is open, equitable, and beneficial to all, regardless of the size or resources of the individual or organization involved.
LA TechWatch caught up with Sahara AI CEO and Cofounder Sean Ren to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
The latest raise is a strategic round, which brings our total funding to $43M. The round was led by Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, and Polychain Capital.
Tell us about your product or service.
Sahara AI is a decentralized AI blockchain platform that prioritizes sovereignty and provenance of AI, ensuring security, equity, and accessibility for all users.
The key components of the Sahara AI platform are:
- Sahara Blockchain: An AI-native blockchain providing the foundation for secure, transparent transactions and efficient AI lifecycle management across the ecosystem.
- AI Infrastructure: Cutting-edge algorithms and computational framework supporting the latest AI advancements, with capabilities for decentralized, collaborative training and serving.
- Sahara AI Marketplace: A decentralized hub for crowdsourcing AI assets, featuring a diverse portfolio of agents, models, and datasets. It offers blockchain-backed ownership and flexible licensing options.
- Development Tools: User-friendly tools for all skill levels, including the Sahara SDK & API for developers and No-Code/Low-Code platforms for non-technical users.
- Secure Storage: Encrypted vaults and robust security measures ensure the protection of AI assets and user data.
These components work together to create a comprehensive, accessible, and secure platform for the collaborative development and deployment of AI.
What inspired the start of Sahara AI?
Sahara Labs was founded in April 2023.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming our world at an unprecedented pace. From personalized recommendations and virtual assistants to advanced healthcare diagnostics, financial forecasting, and industrial automation, AI’s influence is pervasive and growing. However, this swift advancement raises significant concerns about control, fairness, and accessibility. As AI becomes more powerful, questions arise about who controls these systems and how they’re used. Major tech companies dominate the AI landscape, often collecting vast amounts of public data contributed to individuals without adequate compensation or transparency. Users frequently interact with AI-driven services without knowing how their data is being used or the providence of the information that contributed to the AI’s outputs. This centralization of power and lack of transparency can lead to biased algorithms, privacy violations, and unequal access to AI’s benefits. As an experienced AI researcher and practitioner, our team saw this challenge within the existing AI landscape and we started brainstorming solutions in Q2 2022 (pre-GPT era) as one of the earliest. Ultimately, we decided to land our foot on our current vision and mission.
At Sahara AI, we envision a different approach – one where AI is open, equitable, and beneficial to everyone across all stages of the AI development cycle. Our decentralized AI blockchain platform allows everyone – from individual developers to large enterprises – to participate in and benefit from AI advancements. This ensures that all contributors are fairly compensated, sovereignty of data and models are maintained, and AI assets can be securely created, shared, and traded, all while preserving privacy and promoting inclusivity.
How is it different?
At Sahara AI, we are building a decentralized AI blockchain platform that empowers everyone to shape and own the future of AI. Most AI today remains trapped in a Web 2.0 paradigm where users trade their knowledge for access to AI/ML tools. There is often no transparency on how users’ proprietary models and agents are used by these centralized AI providers, and no protection or compensation for users’ contributions. Sahara AI offers a human-centered alternative that protects personal privacy and rewards all contributors.
Here’s what makes us different:
- Sovereignty and Provenance: We ensure decentralized ownership and governance of AI with transparent and immutable on-chain attribution throughout the AI development cycle.
- AI Utility: Our platform provides a comprehensive suite of real-world AI tools, supported by a robust infrastructure that prioritizes usability and user experience, delivering immediate practical value.
- Collaborative Economy: We foster a fair and transparent system that rewards all contributors, encouraging diverse participation and driving innovation within the AI ecosystem.
Whether you’re a research scientist looking to share a groundbreaking model, an enterprise seeking tailored AI solutions, or an individual wanting to monetize your data safely, Sahara AI offers a platform where your contributions are valued, protected, and fairly rewarded.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
We are targeting the global AI market.
What’s your business model?
Sahara AI is a decentralized AI blockchain platform that prioritizes sovereignty and provenance of AI, ensuring security, equity, and accessibility for all users. We’re introducing the Collaborative Economy which is the new economic system for monetization and attribution that will allow all participants to benefit from the work they contribute, whether it’s operating infrastructure, fine-tuning a model, building an autonomous agent, contributing knowledge, or developing an application.
Several key characteristics:
- Fair Compensation and Recognition: Users are rewarded in proportion to their contributions based on provenance of the AI development process, addressing challenges of global economic disparities.
- Trustless Transactions: The system enables users to monetize their AI through a transparent and efficient process, eliminating middlemen and ensuring trustless distribution of profits.
- Inclusive Participation: The collaborative economy attracts simultaneous participation from individuals, small and medium businesses (SMBs), and enterprises, promoting a diverse and vibrant AI community.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
We will continue to focus on building good products with strong PMF regardless of market conditions.
What was the funding process like?
The funding process was quite smooth with tremendous trust and support from our investors.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The process was quite smooth and intuitive as we have been extremely focused on building towards the right vision and mission.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We offer users and developers secure control and “copyright” protection over their AI assets, including proprietary data, models, and agents. This “copyright” protection is enabled via our proprietary technology and architectural design – Sahara Blockchain Protocols (SBP). These protocols include an AI Asset Registry for tracking assets, AI Licensing for controlling access, AI Ownership for securing non-transferable ownership records, and AI Attribution for tracking contributions and distributing revenue. Collectively, they ensure reliable handling, secure ownership, proper attribution, and fair compensation of AI assets.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We have a number of launches we’re prepared to announce in the coming months, including our Sahara Chain testnet and Mainnet launches.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Founders should continue analyzing and identifying the right target user base, so they can better strategize and roll out their marketing and growth plans. It is crucial to find PMF as early as possible, especially during this volatile market.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We are in a hyper-growth stage. We intend to use the new funding to expand our global team of experts, enhance the performance of the SaharaAI blockchain, and grow the developer ecosystem.
What’s your favorite outdoor activity in LA?
Basketball. We often do pick-up games in Playa Vista.
