Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, alongside Pantera Capital and Framework Ventures, has led an $85 million seed investment in Sentient, an open-source AI development platform. This substantial funding aims to boost Sentient’s capabilities in fostering an ecosystem where AI developers can profit from their open-source models and data.
Evolving Open-Source AI
Sentient’s initiative is a direct response to the current dominance of closed-source AI systems, which concentrate power among a few major entities. By enhancing the open-source landscape, Sentient seeks to provide AI developers with the necessary incentives to become significant stakeholders in their creations.
Strategic Backing and Future Plans
The investment round also saw participation from a wide range of venture capitals such as Robot Ventures, Symbolic Capital, and others, underscoring the broad industry support for decentralizing AI development. Sentient plans to utilize the funds to hire more engineers and further develop its AI platform.
The launch of Sentient’s testnet is scheduled within this quarter, marking a significant step towards achieving its goals.
Moreover, Sentient is pioneering a blockchain protocol to align economic incentives for developers, aiming to address the challenges of model and data monetization in the open-source community.
Joey Krug of Founders Fund emphasized the platform’s potential to resolve the prevailing issue where open-source creations can be used without compensation. This development could significantly alter the landscape of AI development, providing a sustainable model for open innovations.
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