Artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as the famous GPT series from OpenAI, are reportedly reaching a new milestone. They are now capable of managing Bitcoin transactions, a feat aided by a set of innovative tools revealed by Lightning Labs. The modern avid AI world was significantly spurred by the success of OpenAI’s phenom ChatGPT, a sophisticated chatbot that drew a staggering 100 million users within two months from its introduction.
However, according to Lightning Labs, current large language model (LLM) software that’s trained on extensive datasets to generate human-like text encounters a significant drawback. They require a contemporary Internet-based payment method, rather than depending on obsolete options like credit cards. This overshadows the potential of AI platforms, resulting in increased costs for users and hampering general access to AI software.
Shining a light on this problem is Lightning. Devising itself as a second-tier payment network striving for affordable and rapid Bitcoin transactions, it offers an alternative payment model. Denoting Bitcoin as the native currency of the Internet, Lightning Labs has created tools that blend high-frequency Bitcoin micropayments via Lightning with familiar AI software libraries, such as LangChain. In effect, this incorporation doesn’t only curb expenditure on software deployment. Instead, it unlocks further potential application occurrences for AI.
“We are in the realm of enabling use cases that weren’t previously possible,” stated Elizabeth Stark, Lightning Labs CEO. She evoked the example of software that can demand a fee for application programming interface (API) access, which enables different software junctions to communicate. In a striking illustration, AI software might enquire another on a pay-per-use basis. Post satisfactory response, the software makes additional payments.
Simultaneously, it is worth remembering our collective leap into an era of AI-mediated Bitcoin transactions is not devoid of scepticism. The lucrative success of applications such as ChatGPT naturally raises expectations concerning the future of AI. Michael Levin of Lightning Labs argues that chat interfaces offer merely the tip of the potential applications iceberg. He suggests that future, so-far-uncharted applications within enterprise and software-as-a-service (SaaS) products could create a paradigm shift in the AI world.
As the world begins to recognize LLM usage beyond chat interfaces and user engagement with technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see many more such intriguing intersections between AI and the existing technology provisions of the internet. However, more systemic integration is necessary for broader acceptance and to potentially revolutionize the future of AI.
Source: Coindesk
