Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Bloomberg Crypto, a daily Bloomberg ihod podcast, and
I'm Baldana hirech in today for Stacy Marie Ishmael. It's Thursday,
March second. Most crypto enthusiasts pride themselves on being tech visionaries.
(00:29):
After all, they were among the first to back innovative
blockchain technologies and embraced things like web three and NFTs.
But now there's a new innovation that's captured the public
imagination and it's getting a ton of buzz in the
crypto world as well. You guessed it, it's chat GPT.
Late last year, Open AI's new chatbots parked a conversation
(00:51):
about the future of artificial intelligence. People on the Internet
were going crazy about its ability to craft human like responses,
and even ace an exam from Wharton. Ever since, AI
linked crypto tokens have been on a rapid rise. At
one point in early February, tokens from decentralized AI companies
(01:12):
like Singularity Net and Singularity dial soared over the span
of just a couple of dates. But as the fervor grows,
so do the concerns, and some industry insiders are warning
investors against being too bullish. So what exactly are AI
tokens and how can they shape the industry? Bloomberg reporter
(01:36):
Hannah Miller joins us now to discuss Hannah, Welcome to
the show. Yeah, thank you for having me. I was
hoping we would just start out with you laying out
for us what exactly an AI crypto token even is. Well,
to be frank here, I think we're still figuring out
what exactly the definition of a crypto AI token is.
(01:59):
You know, there's a very new space, a very nascent space,
and I think it's going to be really interesting to
see how crypto and AI intersect. But right now, the
way I'm thinking of it is that these crypto AI
tokens belong to a project that uses both blockchain and
(02:19):
artificial intelligence in some way. So there's this really cool
project called the Graph. They've been around for years, but
we've seen a lot of interest in their token rise
because they do have this connection to AI. They're looking
into using artificial intelligence to make it easier to search
(02:41):
and organize blockchain data. So it's the idea that people
are taking advantage of this new trend and trying to
build out tokens or projects around it. Yeah. I mean
within the tech industry, people are always looking for what
the next big thing is. So I feel like over
the past two years or so, it was crypto. Everything
(03:02):
was about blockchain. You had crypto startups raising money at
huge valuations, you had the price of bitcoin soaring. All
of that has changed within the past year, and now
people are kind of moving on to the next thing.
So I feel like within crypto, a lot of projects
(03:24):
are kind of maybe trying to seize upon an association
with AI in order to stay relevant, and they want
to use AI and kind of climb on top of
that hype that is surrounding artificial intelligence and integrate it
into their own crypto and blockchain projects. And that's really
what it comes down to. So frequently with a lot
(03:45):
of things within crypto is just trying to build up
hyperound different things. I know, I've spent a bunch of
time on different crypto researcher websites who sort of create
lists of some of these AI tokens, and I'm just
looking at all of their prices and I remember in
early February some of them are up like two hundred
three hundred percent, So maybe can you tell us about
(04:06):
how crypto enthusiasts, maybe small time crypto investors have been
responding to these new tokens. Yeah, so I think they
kind of see artificial intelligence as a lifeline. You know,
this is the new fad. Everyone's excited about chat, GBT,
you know, this is dominating headlines the broader tech industries
(04:27):
in the middle of a slowdown. It's not just crypto.
I think with AI, it's kind of seen as sort
of a revival of interest and investing in tech despite
you know, market downturns. So with these new projects, I
think people are looking for opportunities where crypto and AI
can be used in gaming, cyber security, decentralized finance, you know,
(04:52):
areas that are hot within crypto but definitely have room
for improvement, and they're sort of seeing AI as a
way to do that. I know nothing about how this
is happening in the gaming world or the metaverse world,
so anything you can tell us anything colorful about this
would be very interesting. So yeah, I think with gaming,
(05:12):
I mean, that's that's always like a fun area that
I love to talk about. It's been really interesting to
see sort of this combination of the three biggest buzzwords
in recent memory, which is Crypto, AI and the Metaverse.
And you know, I think with a lot of these terms,
(05:34):
like like I said, we're still trying to figure out
like what exactly the metaverse is and what actually what
actually is the definition of this term, because I feel
like so many different companies and projects have thrown out
their vone versions of the metaverse. But with using AI,
the Metaverse, and Crypto, we've seen eight different companies combine
(05:58):
in these three different areas to form a single entity
called future Verse. So that happened in December, and I
thought that was really interesting because it shows, you know,
they have these high ambitions their combining efforts. Some of
these projects have been around for a while and you know,
are teaming up and basically they want to create this
virtual world that uses both blockchain and artificial intelligence. And
(06:20):
I think they're still you know, kind of figuring out
what exactly that means. A different project, So this is
a pretty big name in cryptogaming, a mutable X. They're
you know, big in blockchain gaming development. They are actually
using AI to or looking into using AI to design
(06:43):
in game graphics, Like they're pulling stuff from you know,
online from virtual worlds and kind of using that to
design what the imagery of a virtual world in a
game would look like. So it's it's pretty cool to see.
You know, there's already some big, big names hopping on
the crypto AI bandwagon. So there are a lot of
(07:04):
people who have high hopes for you know, this intersection
of crypto AI and think that it's it's more than hype.
I like what actually our producer put together for us
for the outline for this episode, she said, crypto is tired,
AI is wired. I think that encapsulates it maybe best
in terms of just some of the excitement around this.
(07:26):
Tell us how people are actually responding to some of
these projects, or even from like an investor standpoint, what
are when you're talking to people, are they thinking that
this is a fad, this is something that's going to
be very short lived, or does it maybe have more
sticking power. No. When I talk to people, they're very
excited about and AI combining. Yeah, and I actually have
(07:50):
you know, talk to firms they're looking into hiring people
who you know, have more of a background in AI
and can sort of bring that expertise even if the
firm is crypto native to begin with UM. I've also
just been getting you know, pitches in my own inbox
on you know, new projects that use AI, and I
see these these terms come up, you know, like machine
(08:12):
learning and you oh, they have this model. You know,
It's it's been very fun to see UM these emails
come up because some of these projects, I think they're
they're very new, they're just starting out, and you know,
it's it's still early days, but there's definitely a lot
of excitement here. I've been thinking a lot about the
Portlandia episode where they have the skit where it's like
(08:35):
put a bird on it and it's just like a
shop that puts like a little bird. Yes, And I've
been thinking out about this in terms of like put
AI on it. You know, people just want to slap
on an AI label in order to drum up interest
because it is so hot right now. It definitely people
I talk to are excited about it and have high
hopes and see AIS maybe a way to to push
(08:59):
crypto forward, you know, to move beyond scandals like the
collapse of FTX, the implosion of three Hours Capital. You know,
they're seeing AI as a way that can still keep
crypto relevant and on people's minds despite declining coin prices. Okay,
what about the AI tokens themselves? I even have asked
a bunch of people about this. You know, people who
(09:21):
pay attention to the market very closely, do they have
warning signs or do they sort of see an AI
token as an extremely speculative investment, something that can rally
three over a couple of days and then crash, you know,
just as much over the next, you know, the following days.
Is that the sense from investors within the space or
(09:41):
people who are watching the space that maybe people should
be very careful about investing in these tokens. Yeah. I
think the people I speak to you they do pretty
intense to research. I mean, these eventual capitalists who you know,
want to make sure that they are making a good bet.
It's obvious that for just some retail investors, they do
necessarily do the do their research. You know. One example,
(10:03):
coin Base has announced the launch of its you know,
new blockchain, it's new Base blockchain, and you saw prices
of tokens that were called like Base, even though these
were tokens that had nothing to do with the coin
Base blockchain. You saw these prices sore you know on
(10:25):
this announcement, if you if you did your own research,
you would figure out that there's no association here between
these base tokens and what coinbase is doing. So it's
things like that that you know, the industry is going
to have to grapple with. The fact of the matter
is it's like there's still such volatility within crypto. But yeah,
(10:45):
it's going to be hard to sort of cut through
the noise when you have all these different projects coming up,
you know, claiming to use AI and that they have
this token or that token. Yeah, it would be interesting
to see what happens up next. More with Bloomberg reporter
Hannah Miller on how AI tokens are the new buzz
in crypto. We'll be right back. Well, you and I
(11:13):
are on the same wave length, because I wanted to
ask you about the base the stuff that's happening with
coin base and the base tokens, where it does seem
like maybe sometimes some of these things pop up because
people know or inherently understand that you need new people
and new investors coming into the market. Is that the
(11:33):
sense is that sort of the right idea behind this? Yeah, no, no,
I think so, you know, that people want fresh blood
in the industry. There's still is always going to be
the battle to get crypto to be more mainstream, to
onboard you know, your average consumer into the space. And yeah,
(11:54):
I mean I think maybe some projects, some investors believe like, Okay, well,
it's good that people are buying up these tokens, even
if you know, maybe the use case isn't clear or
maybe they're a little sketchy, because it shows that there's
still interest in the space. But people still want to
take advantage of blockchain and you know, want their own
(12:14):
piece of the pie and believe that you know, the
prices of these tokens are going to go up. So
I do think this does help drive bullishness. But again
there is a cost here. It's like, what if these
projects turn out to be a rug pull or you know,
just something really fake and stupid, and you know, then
(12:36):
you have people left in the lurch. So even though
there is this rising popularity, you know, there is still
this threat that people are going to fall victim to
scams and things like that. And it's also you know,
going to bring greater regulatory attention. We're still we still
have a very unclear cryptoregulatory landscape, and you know, these
(12:57):
kinds of scenarios where people are buying up to oakens
and then get screwed over. You know, that's just fodder
for regulators to kind of step in and say, hey,
this keeps happening in the industry. We've already had all
this other stuff happen, you know, we need to crack down.
What about thinking very far ahead, like, you know, not
(13:18):
the next couple of weeks, but just in terms of
thinking about the future. What could AI technology do you
think mean for the future of the crypto industry. Look,
if they can use artificial intelligence effectively with blockchain, I
think it would be a big deal. You know, AI
I think is going to continue to gain traction, you know,
over the next few years. And whether that'll help bring
(13:41):
about a renaissance for crypto, you know, I think I
think that's a distinct possibility. But this is it's still
very like both these industries are still very niscent. People
are still figuring out what the best use cases are
for blockchain. You know, I was talking with a you know,
(14:01):
crypto executive the other day, you know who was saying
that the best news case for blockchain clearly isn't going
to be in finance because of these regulatory hurdles. It's
going to be in culture. You know, it's going to
be in game, it's going to be in music, it's
going to be an art, it's gonna be an NFTs.
So you know, it's kind of hard to tell again,
(14:21):
like what the best use case for blockchain is going
to be. But if AI can help people figure that out, yeah,
that's that's a huge asset. Do you want to know
a secret? Yes? I had chat gpt right out all
of the questions I was going to ask you on
this podcast. I'm just kidding. You're killing me. Oh my god.
(14:42):
As long as as long as the chatpod doesn't fall
in love with you, you're good. Oh my gosh, I
saw that story. Yeah, I don't. I do not want
to fall in love with me. Thank you, but thank
you head us so much for joining us on the
podcast today. No, thank you for having me. That was
Bloomberg reporter Hannah Miller. You can find more of her
reporting on the Bloomberg terminal in a Bloomberg dot com.
(15:05):
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(15:27):
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to Crypto at Bloomberg dot net. The supervising producer of
Bloomberg Crypto is Vicky Vergelina. Our senior producer is Janet Babin.
Our producers are Mohammed Faroup and Sharon Barrero. Our associate
producers are Ty Butler and Moses on Them. Desta wonder
(15:48):
Ad is our engineer. Original music by Leo Sidron. I'm
Stacy Marishmo. We'll be back tomorrow as them About the
A and the N in the D