VANA 101: How This Filipino-Led AI and Blockchain Platform Is Revolutionizing Data Ownership

 “Filipinos are the largest users of social media in the world, and they have the most data on these platforms. The value of that data needs to be realized by individuals so that the Philippines can be uplifted.”

Art Abal, co-founder of Vana, a Filipino-developed AI-focused network, shared that their goal is to empower individuals, especially in the Philippines, to take full control of their data and reap the benefits from it.

This article, created in collaboration with Vana, aims to provide readers with an overview of the project, its target audience, and its ecosystem.

Introducing Vana: The Future of Data Ownership

What is it? Originally a research project in 2018, Vana is a distributed network for private, user-owned data, designed to enable user-owned AI. 

• About the Name: Vana is short for “Nirvana,” which is in reference to liberating and setting data free, as wrote by the founders. 
• For Users: Technically, users can contribute to AI models within the network, where they can earn.
• For Developers: Meanwhile, developers gain access to cross-platform data to power personalized applications and train frontier AI models.

By the Numbers: 

• The project received $20 million in total funding from venture capitalists and investors. 
• As of this writing, Vana has 1.3 million users. 

Who Developed Vana? The network was co-founded by Art Abal and Anna Kazlauskas, both Filipinos. 

• Art Abal is an Iligan-born lawyer with Australian-Filipino roots who studied innovation and public policy at Harvard. 
• Anna Kazlauskas is an entrepreneur who studied computer science and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an early contributor to Celo blockchain.
• The First Journey: The two builders first created TOCA, a platform focused on helping people in low-income areas participate in the AI economy by labeling data from their phones, which was initially deployed in Cebu and Manila.
  • However, the project was stopped because they both decided to finish their studies first. 
• The Second Journey: After finishing their studies, they then build Vana, which builds upon the original mission of TOCA but has adjustments.
  • In Vana’s model, data is no longer about manual contributions but instead reflects the intrinsic value of each individual’s digital footprint.

Key Quote: 

“VANA is a groundbreaking venture co-founded by Art Abal and Anna Kazlauskas, two visionaries from Harvard and MIT, with the ambitious goal of breaking the ‘data wall’ and fueling the next generation of AI—all while remaining deeply rooted in their Filipino heritage.”

Vana Network

The Problem Vana Solves

• Mission: Vana aims to allow people to have full control over their data and can benefit from it in a meaningful way. 
• Problem: According to the founders, the global AI landscape is reaching a critical juncture called the “data wall.”
  • It is because the public internet has been extensively scraped for data, they argued, leading to a saturation point where AI development is constrained by a lack of fresh, high-quality inputs. 
• How Will Vana Solve It? Vana eyes to create a system that ethically sources real human data with full user consent.
  • This reflects not only an ethical commitment but also the deeply rooted Filipino values of fairness and community, as stressed by the founders. 
• By Filipinos, For Filipinos: Consequently, the two assured that people and not corporations will control their digital selves through Vana. 

How It Works? Basically, Vana will help users reclaim their data from big tech platforms. 

• Once reclaimed, users can use the data in AI-powered applications. 
• Users can even make data collectives with it and sell the data if they want.

“VANA is more than just a company; it’s a movement—one that promises to redefine how we think about data, AI, and the digital economy. Art and Anna’s story is one of returning to their roots while pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. For Art and Anna, this is not just a business venture; it’s a legacy that will resonate for generations to come.”

Vana’s Key Features

• An L1 Blockchain: This ensures data is controlled by the individual, the founders assured, verifying its value privately while allowing it to contribute to AI models without compromising user privacy.
  • It is entirely open source and operates as a permissionless, decentralized network. 
• Data Liquidity Pools: These pools incentivize, aggregate, and cryptographically verify valuable data.
• Funds-Like Data: Vana makes data portable and non-custodial users can keep them in their web3 wallet.
  • This is usable for AI tools to know the user’s personal context without compromising privacy. 

Vana’s Roadmap

“We believe in an open internet where users own their data and the AI models they contribute to. AI models should be created more like open-source software: iteratively by a community. To make this possible, researchers need access to the world’s best datasets that are held captive across walled gardens. Users can break down these walled gardens by exporting their own data.”

Vana’s Ecosystem Projects

• r/datadao: A community-owned data collective focused on Reddit data.
  • Website: https://www.rdatadao.org/
• Volara: A decentralized data marketplace for X.
  • Website: https://volara.xyz/
• Flirtual: A platform that allows users to take control of their dating app data.
  • Website: https://www.flirtual.xyz/
• Block Explorer: Transaction explorer for the Satori testnet.
  • Website: https://satori.vanascan.io/
• Faucet: For claiming testnet tokens for Satori.
  • Website: https://faucet.vana.org/
• Symmetric:  A decentralized exchange and a portfolio management platform.
  • Website: https://symmetric.finance/
• Finquarium: A secure, transparent platform for financial prediction data.
  • Website: https://finquarium.com/
• GPT Data DAO: A platform for users to own their ChatGPT data.
  • Website: https://www.gptdatadao.org/
• Resume Data Dao: A platform where users can earn from their LinkedIn data.
  • Website: https://www.ldatadao.org/home
• SixGPT: Users can use this platform to run a GPT model that proxies as a Vana miner on hardware.
  • Website: https://sixgpt.xyz/
• YKYR: a user-owned AI web analytics platform.
  • Website: https://x.com/ykyrnow
• Sydintel: A transparency engine for crowd-sourced intel.
  • Website: https://sydintel.com/
• MindDAO: A DAO that aims to study how web3 impacts our well-being.
  • Website: https://mind-dao.xyz/
• Kleo Network: A comprehensive dataset of browsing history.
  • Website: https://www.kleo.network/
• DataPIG: An AI-driven recommendation engine for investments.
  • Website: https://datapig.xyz/
• ScrollDAO: A platform that helps users to “earn while scroll,” with a hint of a potential Telegram game.
  • Website: https://www.scrolldatadao.com/

The Impact on the Philippines

Given that the Philippines is among the top countries with the most number of social media users, allowing Filipinos to earn from their digital data is a big help in this thriving economy. 

• Moreover, since the use of AI tools are slowly adopting not just in Filipino’s daily lives but even in workplaces, owning a portable and non-custodial data can help AI tools to understand who they are talking to, with proper context and without compromising privacy. 
• Worth Reading: 86% of Filipino Office Workers Use AI; Leaders Push for Greater Adoption 

Meanwhile, since one of the ethical issues of AI tools is about bypassing a user’s privacy, Vana’s initiative can help mold the AI industry to produce machines and bots that respect privacy and value community. 

“VANA’s impact doesn’t stop there. The platform’s technology is enabling AI to understand and serve local populations more effectively. This means AI can better grasp cultural nuances and languages that are often overlooked, leading to more inclusive and representative technologies.”

This article is published on BitPinas: VANA 101: How This Filipino-Led AI and Blockchain Platform Is Revolutionizing Data Ownership

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