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. 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, 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, 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 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 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 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 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.
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 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
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 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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
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, 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, 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.
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. For more, be sure to check out our twice weekly newsletter,
Bloomberg Crypto. This is Bloomberg Crypto, a daily podcast from Bloomberg and iHeartRadio. For more shows from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Send us your comments, questions, or suggestions for the show 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 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