Blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, can be used to track AI training data

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — Blockchain could be used to prevent bias in the data that artificial intelligence models are trained on — and that could be a “killer use case” for the technology, executives told CNBC.

One concern about AI models — the kind powered by apps like ChatGPT — is that the data they are trained on could contain biases or misleading information. This means that the answers an AI system may provide may contain those biases and misinformation.

Blockchain technology hit the market in 2009 with the launch of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. In the context of Bitcoin, the technology is a public ledger of transactions that is immutable and tamper-resistant. Companies are looking to use these principles in other applications of blockchain, which is sometimes referred to as distributed ledger technology.

In the case of artificial intelligence, training data can be placed on a blockchain. This will allow AI system developers to keep track of what data the model was trained on.

Casper Labs, a business-focused blockchain company, partnered with IBM this month to create such a system.

“The product that we are developing, the data sets are actually scanned and stored on the blockchain so that you have evidence of how to train the AI,” Medha Parleka, chief technology officer and co-founder of Casper Labs, told CNBC during a panel discussion. Discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

“So, while you're using the AI, if it's learning and you find that the AI ​​starts hallucinating, you can actually undo the AI. And then you can undo some of the learning and go back to the previous version of the AI.”

Hallucinations broadly refer to when an AI system provides false information.

Blockchain is a technology that has been talked about for many years, and a range of industries from finance to healthcare have been looking for ways to use it.

However, Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Innovation Council, said a blockchain-based AI training ledger could be the “killer use case” for the technology.

“I actually think that AI verification and kind of the checks and balances… within the AI ​​system will be driven by blockchain technology and supported by blockchain technology,” Warren told CNBC during the session.