Michael Robinson, Chairman of the OORT Foundation, took the stage at AI Catalysts Lounge - DeAI HK to discuss the future of decentralized AI and the urgent need to move beyond centralized models. He introduced HumanAIx—an open protocol designed to build a permissionless, scalable, and verifiable decentralized AI infrastructure. Watch now to see how decentralized AI is shaping the future!

Below is the speech content for your reference.

Distinguished guests, partners, and colleagues—thank you for being here today.

The current landscape of Web3 and crypto is marked by rapid transformation. With new political leadership in the United States and Bitcoin reaching record highs, the path ahead holds significant promise. This moment may well be described as the technologification of society. For those engaged in Web3—particularly in crypto and AI—this is a defining era.

Substantial investments, especially in the United States, are fueling the acceleration of AI and Web3 integration.

To contextualize this evolution, consider the milestone of OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Plus and its subscription model. While many may recall the general timeframe, the official launch occurred on February 1, 2023. This signifies that the era of public AI agents is still in its early stages—merely two years in. While the potential is vast, numerous challenges remain.

The initial segment of today’s presentation addresses the key issues facing the AI landscape. Real-world prompts submitted to various AI agents reveal concerning patterns:

• Opaque, black-box models from systems such as Perplexity
• Algorithmic bias in tools like ChatGPT
• Content censorship in platforms including DeepSeek
  

These trends raise an important question: if AI is intended to serve as a reliable assistant, can users truly depend on the information it provides?

AI today is undeniably powerful, yet tightly controlled. It is centralized, prone to bias, and lacks transparency. The OORT Foundation maintains that AI must evolve toward a decentralized model—one built on principles of openness, autonomy, and public verifiability.

To that end, the Foundation formally introduces HumanAIx, a decentralized AI protocol built entirely on Web3 infrastructure.

HumanAIx will incentivize human contribution for data verification, creating a participatory and transparent ecosystem. It is the first protocol of its kind, composed entirely of Web3-native technologies, products, and contributors. HumanAIx aims to deliver an infrastructure that is permissionless, scalable, and verifiable—driven by a unified vision of collaborative innovation.

Founding members of HumanAIx include:

• OORT, the core initiator
• XYO, with a user base of over 8 million
• DeTaSECURE, represented by Mr. Basu—recipient of a $100,000 grant from the OORT Foundation, now developing a security layer on EigenLayer
• Unyt from the Holochain Foundation, pioneering mutual credit accounting systems within the ecosystem
• Storj, contributing decentralized storage infrastructure
• AI.KIDO, a data-labeling and gamification platform with over 800,000 users and a partnership with Tesla
• Holochain, offering decentralized hosting solutions
• Supermoon, supporting marketing efforts and contributing via their venture capital division
• Yield Guild Games (YGG), one of the largest gaming guilds in Web3
• io.net, delivering compute infrastructure
• Valdi, enabling aggregated storage and compute systems
  

These members will collaborate to construct a robust, end-to-end decentralized AI ecosystem.

The proposed architecture consists of three main layers:

• An Interface Layer for user interaction
• A Protocol Layer comprising decentralized storage, data, and compute protocols
• A Security Layer dedicated to validation and verification, led by DeTaSECURE
  

All components are designed to operate as open-access APIs, ensuring transparent, permissionless interaction—akin to the ethos of Bitcoin. This structure seeks to maximize societal value through a transparent AI lifecycle.

To catalyze development within this new paradigm, the Foundation is launching the B.U.S. Tour—Build Useful Stuff.

Beginning at ETHDenver, the Foundation has committed $100,000 across five major technology conferences, awarding $10,000 to the top developer at each event. The initiative culminates at DevCon Argentina, where finalists will compete for a $50,000 grand prize.

This initiative is designed to address the fragmentation in existing Web3 AI projects and to foster the creation of practical, decentralized AI solutions.

Further details on the prize pool and upcoming events will be shared shortly. A strategic partnership with a major industry leader has also been secured, pending formal confirmation. This partner is expected to contribute additional funding to the prize pool.

Founding members will remain actively engaged in co-developing infrastructure and facilitating real-world use cases.

The mission of HumanAIx is clear:
To ensure AI remains decentralized, human-centric, verifiable, scalable, and fully on-chain. The initiative envisions a future where humanity—not corporations—shapes the trajectory of AI.

For those building in the Web3 space or seeking to learn more about this initiative, representatives will be available throughout the event for further discussion. The official launch of HumanAIx will take place in the coming hours. Thank you.

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