ObEN.me and Project PAI – Personal AI and AI Technology on the Blockchain
Ever been in a situation when you fantasized about being able to clone yourself just to be able to get everything done on time – or to be able to be at different places at the same time? Yeah… wishful thinking.
Or is it? 😀
We present to you PAI, a personal artificial intelligence created by ObEN. It looks like you. It talks like you. It can even do things you can’t – speak Chinese for instance! Intrigued yet? Good! Let’s check it out together.
Intrigued yet? Good! Let’s check it out together.
What Exactly is a PAI?
A personal artificial intelligence, aka PAI, is a virtual copy of you. We are talking about a 3D avatar that has your voice, your charming looks, and is your authentic representative in the digital world. This revolutionary new thing is created with ObEN’s AI proprietary technology and can even learn new skills and do various tasks independently.
You don’t have to do much to set it up. All it takes is a selfie and reading a few sentences to your iOS or Android supported phone. Then the nowaday magic – the state-of-the-art speech, NLP, computer vision, and AI animation technology combined into the PAIYO app – will create a 3D version of yourself. We are talking about a few minutes of work here. 🙂
Who are the People Behind ObEN.ME?
ObEN is a Pasadena-based company with a team of over 100 innovation-oriented individuals, all with advanced degrees and PhDs. Founders Nikhil Jain and Adam Zheng started the company back in 2014 with a very personal desire in mind – to stay connected with their loved ones while they are away on business trips.
As the digital world has been changing with the advancements in AI and blockchain technology, ObEN has evolved into an AI company that is now at the forefront of driving change in this sphere.
The company’s vision of the future focuses on two things:
- Everyone should have their PAI;
- Everyone should have full and sole control of their PAI data.
The team behind ObEN works on their vision through Project PAI. This is an open-source, blockchain-based platform where users can create and use their PAIs.
Why Open-Source and Why Blockchain?
The guys from ObEN decided that they want the code to be available to all its community users. That way, the community can contribute the data to the PAI ecosystem and improve and grow the decentralized network in that manner.
The company decided to build upon a blockchain protocol and create a PAI Blockchain in order to tie the virtual identities of its users in a way that no one else can misuse them. Therefore, all users have control over their PAI, its data, plus their identity is protected in the PAI blockchain by being tied to this ledger.
Every person’s identity is verified and authenticated before they can actually start building a PAI. Authenticators use biometrics – voice and speech provided by the user – and user ID to confirm people’s identities.
The system enables anyone who participates in the enhancement of the PAI neural network to get compensated. Each time you contribute data, work, authenticate other people’s data or provide computational resources to improve the PAI algorithms, you get compensated with PAI coins.
What are PAI Coins?
Listed as one of the top coins today, they are the output of the Project PAI and represent a peer-to-peer transfer solution that is a derivative of the Bitcoin. The PAI Blockchain has many layers and the PAI coin is on top of the chain.
You can mine the coins in a similar way you can mine Bitcoins – by authenticating PAIs and PAI transactions.
Since companies and developers have the ability to build their tokens and experiences on top of the PAI blockchain, developers who launch their applications on the network can also get compensation in the form of PAI coins.
How Can You Use a PAI by ObEN?
A fantastic thing about a Personal AI is that it is, by definition, scalable. You can upgrade and customize your PAI with new skills and digital items like clothes and accessories pretty much like Neo learns new skills in the Matrix.
Awesome, we know!
When doing internal research on PAIs, the teenage community suggested it would be cool to create GIF files and emojis with their PAI. ObEN welcomed this feedback with open arms so now a PAI is able to express emotions, dance, and sing. You can even share those creations with your friends on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat in just a few clicks. Not only this but a PAI can do things on your behalf that you might not have the time or skills to do – like speak Japanese, Korean, or Chinese for example.
We’ve already witnessed a PAI being a part of the retail application – the first personal AI art concierge was held in K11 Art Mall store in Shanghai. It is expected in the near future that PAIs should be able to participate in a teleconferencing meeting or be a part of healthcare solutions where it could send therapy reminders to their patients’ PAIs and other types of support through telehealth.
Apart from this, the entertainment industry has already recognized the potential of PAIs. ObEN’s collaborated with SNH48 in creating the world’s first human “feat. PAI” music video. How exciting is that?! We bet we can soon see celebrities’ PAIs communicating with their fans and sharing experiences. The options of using PAI seem limitless really. 🙂
Piece of PAI?
The door of fully digitized interactions is wide open and we see amazing innovators such as ObEN.ME trailblazing the way. Their vision to enable people to create personal 3D avatars on a decentralized blockchain network with absolute control over their data and PAI is futuristic. And, with PAIs being scalable, they will have more time to do things that matter and let their digital versions handle the everyday tasks. Indeed, we’re far from James Cameron’s “Avatar” or Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” times but it is extremely exciting to see these visions unfold. 🙂
