Cardano Thinks Blockchain Can Fix AI

Today's announcement from Cardano Foundation about a course focused on AI and blockchain is quite intriguing.

Cardano is approaching the intersection of these two technologies from an interesting angle. The idea is that AI systems make decisions every day based on data that cannot really be verified.

It's hard to argue with that. Personally, I think a skilled expert - or a group of experts - can often verify whether information is reliable. But AI models themselves still seem far from perfect at this. Anyone who regularly uses AI for research has probably noticed that some of the information it produces turns out to be false. So the problem is definitely real.

And now Cardano Academy is launching a free Coursera course that promises to explain how blockchain technology could help solve this issue.

Honestly, that sounds almost unbelievable. As far as I understand, blockchains do store trustworthy information - but they can only answer two questions:

• whether a particular transaction actually happened,
• and whether the person signing a pending transaction really has authority over the assets being transferred.

Of course, you can store other kinds of data on a blockchain too. But does that actually help verify whether such data is true? I struggle to imagine how.

Still, if Cardano Academy has prepared an entire course around this topic - and is specifically inviting business leaders, regulators, and policymakers - then the Cardano experts probably do have something meaningful to say about it.

I've signed up for the course. Later I'll let you know whether it contained genuinely valuable ideas, or whether this is just another attempt by a fading crypto project to attach itself to the AI hype cycle.