Coinbase has introduced an artificial intelligence accelerator grant program to merge AI capabilities with cryptocurrency wallets.
This initiative is set to award $3,000 to each of five selected projects that demonstrate innovative ways to integrate large language models (LLMs) with crypto wallets. The technology behind these AI systems, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, is being explored for its potential to manage finance-related tasks through blockchain technology.
Coinbase CEO Brad Armstrong has expressed the vision that LLMs, if equipped with cryptocurrency wallets, could significantly contribute to economic activities by automating financial transactions on behalf of users.
This concept aligns with the broader idea of economically empowering AI systems to participate in the economy in previously impossible ways due to limitations like the inability of AI to hold traditional bank accounts.
Coinbase’s engineering lead Yuga Cohler posted a demo of the “AI Wallets” feature on X (formerly Twitter) to demonstrate this potential on August 12. The demo showcased a scenario where an AI system rewards users for participating in tasks designed to improve an image recognition model.
Users are asked to choose the best image from a selection of three, and upon completing the task, the AI system automatically sends a payment to their cryptocurrency wallet. This use case mirrors the concept behind Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, where individuals are compensated for completing simple online tasks, but with the added innovation of direct crypto payments facilitated by AI.
The $15,000 accelerator grant program, announced by the Coinbase Developer Platform, seeks to explore a wide range of use cases for AI-driven economic applications. Developers are invited to build AI “bots” that utilize LLMs in conjunction with Coinbase’s Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallets.
The program addresses a key challenge in the development of AI applications: the inability of AI agents to hold bank accounts and conduct automated financial transactions. By moving these activities on-chain, Coinbase aims to unlock new possibilities for AI in the economic landscape.
Developers interested in applying for the grants have until September 5 to submit their proposals. The goal is to test and expand the potential of AI-induced economic applications, paving the way for AI systems that can independently manage and execute financial transactions within the blockchain ecosystem.
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