Today I am speaking with Ilan Rakhmanov, the Founder & CEO of ChainGPT and we'll discuss the innovative integration of artificial intelligence within the Web3 and blockchain landscapes, highlighting the current state, challenges, and future opportunities of this fusion. We will also discuss the critical skillsets needed for professionals in this evolving field, the genesis and mission of his company in bridging AI with blockchain, and the potential of AI-driven tools to transform digital art, news aggregation, and blockchain analytics. Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do? Hi, my name is Ilan Rakhmanov, I am the CEO & Founder of ChainGPT, the AI-powered Web3 infrastructure providing a diverse suite of tools and services. I am a serial entrepreneur and businessman, and for the past couple of years since founding ChainGPT, I have been working to bring the company and its AI services to Web3 and blockchain to help fill the void of real AI and Web3 integration. My experience leading multiple 7-9 figure companies has included roles across various industries and sectors ranging from software and IT to business, law, design, and marketing. I’m never bored. Leading the ChainGPT team, we have collaborated with more than 70 Web3 companies and industry frontrunners. Can you describe the current state of integration between AI and blockchain technologies in the Web3 space? As of now, integration is still quite nascent, but we are seeing an influx of innovative applications. We’re witnessing continuous R&D being done behind the scenes, so we can certainly anticipate more use cases and integrations in the pipeline. What skillsets are becoming increasingly important for professionals working at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and Web3? As with any new industry, the skillsets we see quickly becoming a prerequisite for professionals working at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and Web3 are an increased proficiency in existing industry skills converging with new knowledge and technical prowess tailored to this fresh industry. Existing skills such as coding language, large dataset analysis, and machine learning, normally reserved for computer developers and IT departments are quickly becoming a general skill required across the board. Similarly, soft problem-solving skills, teamwork, and effective communication have evolved to become similarly critical. However, these base-level requirements must also embody novel or more advanced capabilities unique to this new industry. These capabilities include skills and knowledge surrounding smart contract creation, development and auditing, advanced natural language processing (NLP), reinforcement learning models, consensus mechanisms, advanced cryptography, and zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), alongside familiarity with blockchain development platforms such as Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. This might sound incredibly specific now, but all of this knowledge and skillsets will inevitably take the place of the previous “Microsoft Office proficiency” requirement of the early 2000s. A compilation of many, if not the vast majority, of these skills will become standard requirements for any professional operating in the intersection of AI, blockchain, and Web3. Can you describe the genesis of ChainGPT and its mission within the Web3 and blockchain space? We established ChainGPT in 2022 as we recognized the continuously growing role of AI across every sector, and the gaping infrastructure void to facilitate and support this. ChainGPT is an AI infrastructure platform focusing on the Web3 blockchain and crypto space. Our mission is to provide individuals and startups with a comprehensive suite of AI solutions tailored specifically to the evolving needs of this industry. Since launching, we’re thankful to be backed by industry leaders such as Google, to be a part of the prestigious NVIDIA Inception Program for Startups, and to have forged partnerships with more than 70 leading Web3 companies, including BNB Chain and Tron. That being said, ChainGPT is not just about AI—it's about community engagement and empowerment, and we embody that being ensuring that our staking and governance models allow $CGPT holders to shape the ecosystem's future. Ultimately, ChainGPT's genesis and mission revolve around providing accessible and advanced AI solutions to fuel innovation and success in the Web3 and blockchain spaces, supported by a strong community and strategic alliances. Could you elaborate on the technology behind ChainGPT’s AI News Auto-Model and how it ensures the relevance and accuracy of the curated content? Our fully automated AI Generated News service aggregates breaking news from only the most trusted sources within crypto and Web3, and then extracts valuable insights from these publications. Given the unique nature of how crypto and blockchain news is disseminated, that does include reliable or verified social media accounts. After aggregating, the tool generates short, to-the-point summaries that are easy for readers to consume on the go. Aside from that, the service employs real-time learning capable of catering to diverse use cases, stories, interactive trading guides, and more. How does the AI NFT Generator align with current digital art and blockchain technology trends? Even before the explosive launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, we had already begun to see growing use of AI-art generators like Dall-E and Midjourney—despite not being as advanced as the tools we have now. The NFT market itself has always been largely composed of unique digital art, so our use of generative AI to mint unique art collections and allow users to mint their own NFTs is just the natural evolution of the NFT space. In your view, what are the most promising opportunities that arise from the convergence of AI and blockchain in the Web3 era? At face value, they are quite different technologies with different strengths, but there are countless ways for them to co-exist. The clearest intersection between AI and blockchain can be seen in AI-arbitrage bots, AI tools creating a better user experience, and NFT generation. However, there are more expansive, infrastructure-level possibilities or applications that cover areas like boosting data ownership and transparency. Aside from that, generative AI’s approachability and fluency can help guide new Web3 users through a fairly complex interface, helping them avoid mistakes and possible scams. But this is definitely an area where we will continue to see a steady stream of innovation and interesting applications. Can you discuss the capabilities of the ChainGPT Chatbot, especially in addressing technical blockchain and crypto queries? The ChainGPT Chatbot allows users to access information and answers to any question related to or within blockchain and crypto. Not unlike the news service, the chatbot utilizes the most trustworthy sources within crypto and blockchain to gather, analyze, process, and distill information while extracting valuable and relevant insights. By doing so, our chatbot provides a fast source of information to any query no matter how general or technical it may be in a way understandable to the user who might not have as much experience with blockchain or crypto jargon. What are the most significant challenges and opportunities in AI-driven blockchain analytics? Given the immense reliance on data to power large language models in generative AI, the biggest challenge will be trying to ensure the integrity of the data being used to train these analytics tools. In Web3 especially, where there can sometimes be a financial stake, it is critical to ensure that those designing these models don’t use them to serve their financial interests. With most of your team being developers, how does ChainGPT foster a culture of innovation and collaboration? First of all, one of my most important responsibilities as CEO is ensuring that our developers, product teams, and everyone across the company understand the value in collaborating. It’s on me to foster that as a startup leader overseeing a team that works across borders. Thankfully we have an incredible group of people who are creative, thoughtful, and bring a lot of different perspectives and experiences to the table. How does ChainGPT plan to grow and engage its user community further? We just need to keep doing what we are doing—building meaningful products and tools that regular users and developers can use. We are invested deeply in our IDO launchpad and incubator which helps solidify our ecosystem and we are deeply connected with our community across multiple social media platforms. By continuing to build and engage, we will see our community grow. Where do you see ChainGPT in the next five years, especially in the rapidly evolving Web3 environment? I fully anticipate Web3 becoming the current internet iteration in five years. With that said, we see ourselves as an integral component of a robust Web3 ecosystem by continuing to provide unique and innovative AI solutions that either tackle space challenges or enhance other aspects. There’s no question the industry will look different in five years. Still, as early innovators of AI in blockchain, we will remain at the forefront of all industry developments, finding a niche or mainstream issue to improve or solve. What future trends do you anticipate in integrating AI and blockchain technologies, and how might these shape the Web3 landscape? I anticipate many future trends, but chief among them will be the use of blockchain to make AI more transparent and secure. This concept is still very academic but many of the brightest minds are working on applying it in numerous ways. For instance, imagine using blockchain to give individuals complete control over their personal data. With AI models becoming increasingly powerful as we compile more data, enabling Web3 to govern these models transparently can enable them to scale in a way that benefits the entire population. Of course, we’ll need to wait and see where regulations also come into play in this realm. On a micro level, I fully anticipate AI being used to help developers build, scale, and deploy apps rapidly. I also fully expect to see AI being used to track market shifts and trends more accurately and transparently.
