NTU Singapore and Zero Gravity (0G)The decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company has announced a S$5 million (US$3.84 million) partnership to establish a joint research center to develop blockchain-based AI technologies that will be more accessible and accountable.
This represents the world’s first 0G university collaboration and will fund multiple projects exploring decentralized AI training, blockchain-integrated model alignment, and useful proof-of-work consensus mechanisms, the duo said in a statement on Monday.
According to the statement, the initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic research and scalable infrastructure for open AI systems, which will be different from traditional closed AI systems controlled by private companies.
For example, instead of running AI systems in closed servers where processing and results are not transparent, using blockchain technology would allow every step of the process, from training to output, to be recorded and verified.
“Open and trustworthy AI is based on a decentralized and accountable foundation. NTU has built world-class expertise in blockchain, cryptography and computing systems,
“Working with 0G, we aim to design an innovative next-generation AI stack that enables global participation and transparency for all,” said Professor Louis Fei, NTU Vice-Chancellor (Innovation and Entrepreneurship).
It’s worth noting that 0G recently announced over $325 million in committed funding, including a $40 million seed round led by Hack VC with participation from Delphi Ventures, OKX Ventures, Samsung Next, and Animoca Brands.
“Our mission is to make AI a public good. By partnering with NTU, we are aligning a world leader in blockchain research and computing to move beyond centralized AI monopolies,
“Together we will build an open ecosystem where developers, enterprises and communities can contribute, verify and audit,” said Michael Heinrich, CEO and co-founder of 0G.
According to the statement, the collaboration will be jointly led by Professor Wen Yonggang, NTU’s Associate Dean (Graduate Education) and Dean of the Graduate School, and Dr. Ming Wu, 0G’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer.
Their teams will develop decentralized computing architectures and secure AI markets that reward contributors of data and computing resources.
The four-year initiative will also include workshops, hackathons, student scholarships and open source projects to nurture the next generation of decentralized AI talent in Asia.
Proof of concepts is expected to occur early within the first two years, targeting pilot applications in finance, healthcare and smart infrastructure.
NTU’s School of Computing and Data Science and its Center in Computational Technologies for Finance (CCTF) will provide research leadership in scalable modular training, AI governance, and blockchain-enabled security frameworks.
The partnership positions Singapore as a hub for the development of open and trustworthy AI and paves the way for future international cooperation in the field of decentralized intelligence, the statement said.
