As a transformative technology, artificial intelligence forms a beacon that's luring many of the world's brightest minds and smartest startups. In offices and labs around the world, small teams are harnessing this rapidly evolving technology to effect radical change to industries that are ripe for disruption.

Five years ago, something similar was occurring with blockchain, whose ability to upend industries as diverse as logistics and fine art is now being realized. When the subsequent AI revolution kicked into high gear, fueled by breakthroughs in machine learning and Turing test-acing chatbots, it was inevitable that the tech would be paired with blockchain.

It was also inevitable that not every startup toiling under the AI-meets-blockchain banner would be genuinely innovating. Such is the nature of the hype cycle that accompanies every new tech breakthrough.

Beneath all the noise, however, there are startups merging blockchain and AI to devastating effect. If they can realize their promise, these companies have the potential to change entire industries and to deliver outsize returns for their early investors. Expect to be hearing a lot more from the following startups as we move into Q3.

Space and Time

Space and Time, or SxT for short, are a decentralized data warehouse with backing from Microsoft and a lot of big brains at work. They deliver real-time, indexed blockchain data as well as off-chain data with "Proof of SQL" to show that it hasn't been tampered with in any way. Essentially it delivers decentralized data on demand to developers, whatever they're building in whatever blockchain ecosystem they happen to favor.

Space and Time
Space and Time Space and Time

SxT is using AI to support natural language queries for SQL prompts. It's just released Houston, a GPT-4-powered bot for making database queries using natural language. By harnessing OpenAI, the chatbot is able to simplify data querying, allowing developers to set up pipelines and dashboards quickly and to create powerful decentralized applications. As a result, data pipelines can be assembled in a matter of seconds without writing so much as a line of code.

SYS Labs

Syscoin developer SYS Labs has its finger in many pies, with its team's appetite for emerging tech well-documented. After acquiring crypto project FortKnoxster, SYS Labs has set its sights on releasing an AI-powered consumer app. The result is SuperDapp, a forthcoming application designed to make web3 effortless for anyone to experience.

SYS Labs
SYS Labs SYS Labs

By making use of conversational AI, SuperDapp supports smart tasks such as sending and receiving crypto, booking travel, and interacting with DeFi, all administered through a text-based AI assistant. Applications such as SuperDapp are likely to become increasingly common in the years ahead as AI permeates everything. The app's clean UI and integration of web3 APIs elevate it to the bracket of Likeliest to Succeed.

HyperCycle

Just as there are many human languages spoken in the world, there are many AIs out there, each with their own peculiarities and specialities. We are living through the poly-AI era in which machines vie for supremacy and their human masters struggle to get to grips with the proliferating varieties. HyperCycle is creating a scalable computing solution that allows AIs to operate autonomously and to inter-communicate in the same way as neurons within the human brain.

HyperCycle's decentralized neurodes take the form of software that offers powerful computation on demand. Using a combination of VMs, AI, and decentralization, HyperCycle's architecture allows computers to subcontract computers, resulting in fast and cheap compute for clients. Hardware owners, meanwhile, can provision their spare capacity through a two-sided marketplace that supports the expansion of a global computational brain.

HyperCycle recently launched a partnership with the Paraguay government, utilizing national hydropower to process AI computation.

HUMAN Protocol

HUMAN Protocol is designed to power virtually any data-labeling API, with its network of contributors forming a base layer that can enhance AI and ML tools. An AI, after all, is only as smart as the data set it's trained on. HUMAN taps into the hCaptcha workpool of hundreds of millions of data labelers and enables other workpools to loop into its software infrastructure, providing vast datasets for machine learning.

Curating custom data sets can be costly using centralized solutions; HUMAN Protocol overcomes this by granting democratic access to data with a price-quality guarantee. By allowing anyone access to a data-labeling service, even when working with a modest budget, HUMAN allows more participants to be involved in the creation of AI products, opening this technology to a much broader audience.

Render Network

Rendering at scale is a process that requires vast banks of GPUs, making it a costly endeavor. Render Network gives digital creators access to high powered GPUs on demand through provisioning idle compute from other web users. In addition, Render provides a platform for artists and developers to create services that support the digital economy, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence.

Render Network
Render Network Render Network

Its network of node operators provides an efficient and scalable solution for tapping into GPU compute power, ideal for rendering AI-generated film, animation, and photography. The ability to quickly render footage that would ordinarily be prohibitively expensive and take a long time to complete is a major breakthrough. It means that even amateur creators can bring their ideas to life, without being impeded by budgetary or hardware constraints.

Libertify

Crypto is not for the faint-hearted. While the roller coaster ride that constitutes playing the markets is a thrill for some, it can be the financial ruin of many. Inexperienced traders are prone to getting rekt, to use the vernacular, by letting their emotions control their decisions.

Libertify
Libertify Libertify

Libertify is on a mission to take the human component out of trading by harnessing AI to make smarter, more rational decisions. Its "crypto seatbelt" is designed to protect investors from the worst elements of market volatility, allowing them to lock in profits and minimize drawdowns on red days. Libertify uses AI to implement trading strategies that align with the user's risk profile, resulting in more gains and less pain.

Artificial intelligence, like blockchain technology, assumes many forms. Given its ubiquity and yet invisibility, it can be hard to see the seismic shift that is occurring before our eyes. The startups profiled here are demonstrating that the marriage of AI and blockchain can be a fruitful one, capturing the benefits of decentralization with the capabilities of machine learning and vast data sets. Companies such as these are laying the groundwork for a new wave of innovation that will impact every industry it touches.