SingularityNET

SingularityNET enters the market of API for AI marketplace. Blockchain in API economy is on its rise and will reach plateau in the next 2-5 years, according to Gartner. Hundreds more APIs get published every month; therefore, this market is highly competitive. There are both big players (Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft), as well as the small ones (Nara Logics, Clarifai, Algorithmia, Bonseyes), trying to capture the market of AI for all. The hype around the API economy is still growing, but it might reach the Peak of Inflated Expectations in the next couple of years. AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined, according to PwC. As SingularityNET is aiming to create marketplace for AI, it should consider the sectors that will gain maximum growth rates among AI spheres. The most beneficial areas are healthcare, automotive, financial services. In this regards, it might be beneficial for SingularityNET to focus on Biomedical research in the first 2 years of development. To sum up, the market for SingularityNET has growth potential. However, the competition might be harsh as large players have significant power and existing solutions in this area.

SingularityNET creates a marketplace for the AI solutions. The company will also create API Protocols for AI solutions development. SingularityNET is a set of smart contract templates which AI Agents can use to request AI work to be done, to exchange data, and to supply the results of AI work. SingularityNET can be accessed through its own token, the AGI token, that is used for sharing the AI work and paying for it. SingularityNET will not charge any transaction fees. Rather, network operations will be funded via decisions of participants to direct a fraction of newly created tokens to entities providing and enhancing network infrastructure. Currently, the Alpha version of SingularityNET is engineered by the team, and it should be launched in December 2017. The Beta Version is expected to be launched in July 2018. The release of 1.0 version is planned for December 2018.

SingularityNet plans to create a marketplace for Artificial Intelligence with the main focus on language processing, biomedical analytics, image processing, finance and robot dialogue tools during the first 2 years of the project. SingularityNet will not charge any transaction fees for the platform usage. Rather, network operations will be funded via decisions of participants to direct a fraction of newly created tokens to entities providing and enhancing network infrastructure. The main challenge for the company will be the creation of API’s that will be used by a large audience. Also, SingularityNET will have to compete with Google, Amazon, etc solutions already available in the market. What is more, the main focus on particular areas of AI application in the beginning (language processing, biomedical analytics, image processing, finance and robot dialogue) could make SingularityNet growth across other AI applicable areas weaker.

SingularityNet aims to raise 36M USD hard cap during its token sale event. After the number of funds will be raised, the ICO will be stopped. The company will sale up to 500M tokens out of 1B. The price will be nominated in ETH and has not yet been disclosed. ETH cap will be determined the day of the sale. SingularityNET plans to hold 18% of tokens(equivalent to 6.5M USD) as a bonus for the core team. There are no mechanisms to ensure future distribution of profit for the tokens holders. The company will use 11.5M USD of the funds raised for business development, 9.4M USD for blockchain platform, 7.2M USD for AI solutions, and approximately 8M USD for the Internet of Things integration.

The team has a solid background only in the technical part of the product. There are people who have a strong track record in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and related areas. SingularityNET CEO – Dr. Ben Goertzel – had previously launched a company with David Hanson - HansonRobotics – human robots development company that created working prototypes of human robots. However, according to company’s website and LinkedIn, there is a lack of experienced managers in the team. SingularityNET has strong technologists but does not have people with high-level management experience. Currently, there are no people with previous management experience in large corporations at SingularityNet. Moreover, all of the technologists worked only in small- or mid-size companies before joining SingularityNET. This can create difficulties for the project to get scalability.