Karan Sirdesai, Co-Founder and CEO of Mira Network : Making AI Trustworthy with Blockchain - YouTube
In this episode of Web3 Quest, host Diksha Dutta engages with Karan Sirdesai, founder of Mira Network, discussing the intersection of crypto and AI. He share...

Click
Use
to move to a smaller summary and to move to a larger one
The Intersection of Crypto and AI: Exploring the Vision of Mea Network
- The founder of Mea Network, Curen Sesai, discusses the misconception of being "early" in the crypto space, stating that it has been around for 15 years and everyone has heard about it.
- He emphasizes that crypto is not just a natural evolution of technology, but rather an ideological choice that offers a better way of doing things, despite the challenges of maintaining wallets and other technical aspects.
- Curen highlights the need for crypto projects to focus on building products that align with users' ideologies, rather than relying on the assumption that users will naturally come as the industry grows.
- Mea Network aims to eliminate the need for human intervention in AI systems and replace it with a system of restless intelligence, moving towards more autonomous AI systems.
- The popular apps in the Mea Network include AI at GBT and CLA, which provide a co-pilot feature that assists users in delivering the final output while still allowing them to remain in control.
Mea Network - Decentralized AI Infrastructure
- Mea Network is a decentralized AI infrastructure platform.
- The founder recognized the need for a decentralized AI infrastructure through professional experiences and background in crypto and AI.
- Mea Network aims to bring open systems and open source ideals into the AI space.
- The platform focuses on making open systems competitive by introducing capitalist incentives.
- Mea Network utilizes the experience and potential of crypto to unlock the potential of open systems in AI.
Understanding AI Agents and Eliminating the Human in the Loop.
- CH GPD and Cloud are popular AI apps that act as co-pilots, assisting humans in delivering final outputs.
- Co-pilots do not have the authority to act on behalf of humans, but help in verifying and improving their work.
- The goal is to replace the human in the loop with a system of AI models that can autonomously verify the output of another AI model.
- This eliminates the constraints of human minutes and unlocks greater potential for AI.
- Concerns about eliminating the human experience are addressed by the belief that humans will move on to better and more interesting endeavors.
- An AI agent is like a sophisticated parrot that takes in information and outputs based on its training and contextual understanding.
- AI agents can be given agency through additional data sources and the ability to use tools.
- However, current error rates in AI are still high, limiting trust in agents for high-consequence tasks.
Overview of AI Platforms and MEA's Role in the Industry
- AI platforms are being built with various layers, including compute, data, middleware, agents, and applications.
- MEA positions itself between the infrastructure and middleware layers, aiming to improve applications and AI operations.
- MEA collaborates with partners in decentralized compute, cloud, and data to meet global data requirements.
- Hardware optimization providers offer GPUs as a cloud service, while companies like Hugging Face and Replicate host models.
- Data systems are evolving to accommodate AI, with vector databases replacing traditional databases.
- Orchestration tools and systems help efficiently and effectively utilize models, data, and compute.
- The application layer utilizes these tools to create consumer or business experiences.
- Developers are a crucial segment for MEA, as they rely on MEA's tools to enhance their agents and workflows.
Challenges and Potential Applications for AI Development
- The biggest challenge currently facing AI app developers is building sustainable and reliable applications.
- There is a need for more meaningful and large breakout applications in the AI space.
- The underutilization of compute resources is a significant concern for investors, analysts, and founders.
- Developers face issues with cost and reliability in AI app development.
- Cost is a solvable issue as AI improves, but reliability remains an unknown challenge.
- Speech and voice AI applications have higher volumes but are not as reliable as text-based applications.
- The goal is to move towards more autonomous systems and away from co-pilot paradigms.
- AI should be used for non-creative tasks to free up time for individuals to focus on creative work.
- The potential applications for AI include automating admin work and tedious tasks.
- Many entrepreneurs and early-stage founders are interested in starting ventures in AI development.
Advice for Fundraising for an AI Agent Startup
- Be early to the trend and stay ahead of the competition.
- Build a competent team with experienced and skilled members.
- Stand out from the crowd by having unique insights and a differentiated product.
- Show tangible evidence of your capabilities through an MVP or research product.
- Leverage market momentum and timing to raise capital.
- Understand that talk is cheap in the crypto space, so focus on delivering something truly unique and valuable.
Differentiation and Critical Feedback for an AI-based Product
- The uniqueness of the product and effective communication are crucial in the AI space.
- Some VCs have criticized the team for opportunistic fundraising and questioned the viability of the product.
- Being a founder requires conviction in the idea while being open to pivots and feedback.
- Raising money does not equate to achieving product-market fit (PMF) and continued focus is necessary.
- The current structure involves a private beta with design partners using the APIs for AI verification.
- Initially, all verification types and nodes are built and hosted by the team.
- The long-term goal is to create a general-purpose verification system with third-party verification builders.
- Revenue is generated for verification builders based on the type of verification they provide.
- A trustless network is established with a global distributed network of validators who are rewarded for securing the network.
- There is intrinsic demand for AI verification as it adds value to the AI world.
Overview of Clock and its Adoption in the Web 3 and Web 2 Space
- Clock is a proof of concept product that demonstrates the reliability of OpenAI's work.
- It currently has around 30,000 users, without any active marketing efforts.
- Clock is designed to address the unique challenges of the crypto industry, such as information asymmetry and noise.
- The AI within Clock performs various functions simultaneously, including price analysis, data sourcing, ranking on Twitter, and summarization.
- By narrowing down the scope of the AI's objectives, Clock reduces the risk of hallucinations and allows for the use of smaller, more cost-efficient models.
- OpenAI plans to open source Clock and make it available for use in other industries as well.
- Clock's user base has provided valuable learnings and feedback to help improve OpenAI's infrastructure platform.
The Importance of Blockchain Technology in Securing Data for AI Models
- Blockchain provides a decentralized and trustless environment for securing data used in AI models.
- It protects against the risk of fraud and malicious leakage of data into models.
- Blockchain ensures the quality and integrity of validation in AI models, preventing biases and errors.
- Crypto primitives in blockchain enable the slashing of malicious validators and maintain network alignment.
- Blockchain serves as an insurance policy for AI models, providing robustness and trustworthiness.
- Building a centralized oversight function for AI validation is impractical due to the large number of models.
- Crypto acts as an important insurance policy for future contingencies.
- The potential for a dedicated blockchain for AI has been hinted at by the speaker.
Importance of Blockchain and Token in With Me Network
- With Me Network focuses on verifying AI output through a decentralized process.
- The verification process involves AI-generated content being checked by multiple models to determine its validity.
- Similar to how blockchains work, With Me Network aims to achieve consensus on the verified content.
- Building their own blockchain is essential for validating AI content and ensuring its immutability.
- There is a debate within the team on whether to establish their own security measures or rely on established players.
- The inclusion of a token in the roadmap is still being considered due to the product's ability to generate revenue without necessarily requiring token bootstrapping.
- The team is actively discussing the role of a token and its significance for the project.
- The decision on whether to have a token launch is a topic of discussion with the team and investors.
- The team acknowledges the pressure some projects face to include a token in their roadmap, but emphasizes the importance of aligning business needs with token implementation.
- With Me Network's investors prioritize long-term alignment over token requirements, showcasing their understanding of the business's needs.
Hiring and Community Involvement at Mira
- Mira is looking for high-quality independent performers to join their team.
- Credentials are not a major concern, as the company values hustle and drive.
- DM the company if interested in any role.
- Critical openings in AI engineering, but mainly formal.
- Journalists are hired for special projects.
- Community involvement can be through a developer Discord for early access and feedback.
- The Flow Market is a spin-off product for building AI agents, accessible to anyone.
- Plans for the next 6 months include preparing the product for distribution.
- Next year, the focus is on decentralizing the network and collaborating with validators.
Goals for Mira's verification system and the importance of credibility in the AI space
- The goal is to have hundreds of real AI teams and products using Mira's verification system.
- Achieving this goal would be a big success for both Mira and the crypto industry, as it signifies being taken more seriously.
- Building credibility in the AI space is crucial, and being based in San Francisco provides great energy and opportunities for networking.
- The AI space relies heavily on spoken knowledge and understanding, which makes being in a city like SF invaluable.
- Building complex technology like Mira's requires making it intuitive for those unfamiliar with AI to understand the purpose and benefits.
- Building in a complex space and adding layers of decentralization poses exciting challenges for any crypto project.
- The first episode of the podcast in this space sets the stage for potential future interviews with successful apps on Mira Network.
- The team is open to recommendations for other projects to feature on the podcast.
- The hope is to interview apps that have achieved great success on Mira Network in the future.
- The first thing the guest does when waking up is checking emails, despite efforts to avoid doing so.
Personal Insights and Preferences.
- The AI and blockchain industries are different and coexist in their own ways.
- The term "important" holds multiple meanings for the Founder.
- The Founder would have dinner with Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, to gain insights from his experiences.
- If not involved in crypto and AI, the Founder would have pursued a career in journalism.
- The Founder believes in following their curiosities rather than sticking to a specific path.
- Building hype is a skill the Founder wishes they had, as they prioritize substance over hype.
- Amsterdam is the favorite city of the Founder due to its atmosphere and connections with friends.
- Lisbon is another city the Founder enjoys, while Paris is not preferred.
Advice on Dealing with Rejection and Putting Yourself Out There
- Life is about putting yourself in a position to get lucky.
- Constantly put yourself out there and be willing to face rejection.
- It's okay for people not to believe in you or your goals.
- Developing the skill of being okay with rejection is important.
- This applies to various aspects of life such as fundraising, making friends, finding a partner, and getting a job.
- Consistency, positivity, and perseverance are key in achieving success.
Overview of Mea Network and Founder's Perspective on Crypto and AI
- Mea Network founder Curen Sesai highlights the misconception of being "early" in the crypto space and emphasizes that crypto is an ideological choice.
- Mea Network aims to eliminate human intervention in AI systems and replace it with a system of restless intelligence.
- Popular apps in the Mea Network include AI at GBT and CLA, offering a co-pilot feature to assist users in delivering final outputs while maintaining control.
- Mea Network is a decentralized AI infrastructure platform that brings open systems and open source ideals into the AI space.
- The platform focuses on making open systems competitive by introducing capitalist incentives.
- Mea Network utilizes the potential of crypto to unlock the potential of open systems in AI.
- Concerns about eliminating the human experience are addressed by the belief that humans will move on to more interesting endeavors.
- Mea Network aims to replace the human in the loop with AI models that can autonomously verify the output of another AI model.
- The company collaborates with partners in decentralized compute, cloud, and data to meet global data requirements.
- Developers are a crucial segment for Mea Network, relying on the platform's tools to enhance their agents and workflows.
- Challenges in AI app development include building sustainable and reliable applications, underutilization of compute resources, cost, and reliability issues.
- The goal is to move towards more autonomous AI systems and away from co-pilot paradigms.
- Potential applications for AI include automating administrative work and tedious tasks.
Summary of Key Points
- Uniqueness of product and effective communication are crucial in the AI space.
- Some VCs have criticized team for opportunistic fundraising and questioned viability of product.
- Being a founder requires conviction in idea while being open to pivots and feedback.
- Raising money does not guarantee product-market fit and continued focus is necessary.
- Current structure involves private beta with design partners using APIs for AI verification.
- Long-term goal is to create a general-purpose verification system with third-party builders.
- Revenue is generated for verification builders based on type of verification they provide.
- Trustless network established with global distributed network of validators who are rewarded for securing the network.
- Intrinsic demand for AI verification adds value to the AI world.
- Clock is a proof of concept product that demonstrates reliability of OpenAI's work.
- Clock is designed to address unique challenges of crypto industry.
- AI within Clock performs various functions simultaneously, reducing risk of hallucinations.
- OpenAI plans to open source Clock and make it available for use in other industries.
- Clock's user base provides valuable feedback to help improve OpenAI's platform.
- Blockchain provides decentralized and trustless environment for securing data used in AI models.
- Blockchain ensures quality and integrity of validation in AI models, preventing biases and errors.
- Building a centralized oversight function for AI validation is impractical.
- With Me Network focuses on verifying AI output through decentralized process.
- Building their own blockchain is essential for validating AI content.
- The decision on whether to have a token launch is still being discussed.
- Mira is looking for high-quality independent performers to join their team.
- Credentials are not a major concern, as the company values hustle and drive.
- The Flow Market is a spin-off product for building AI agents, accessible to anyone.
Founder's Perspective and Values
- The AI and blockchain industries coexist in their own ways.
- The term "important" has multiple meanings for the Founder.
- The Founder would have dinner with Eric Schmidt to gain insights.
- Journalism would have been an alternative career path for the Founder.
- Following their curiosities is more important to the Founder than sticking to a specific path.
- Substance over hype is prioritized by the Founder.
- Amsterdam is the favorite city of the Founder due to its atmosphere and connections.