Grateful to share that I’m joining @psdnai as a founding member and VP of Strategy & Ops. We’re announcing a $15M seed round led by @a16zcrypto and incubation by @StoryProtocol to build the data layer for AI, designed for the real world. There are 3 competitive races in AI: models, compute, and data. Most model architectures are open-sourced and rapidly replicated, shrinking their competitive advantage. The half life of innovation at the model layer is getting shorter and shorter. Compute is a monopoly: GPU access is controlled by a few incumbents like Nvidia, making scale a function of capital. The data layer is wide open, and it's the most valuable piece of the AI stack that has yet to be solved. My path here has followed a consistent throughline: how emerging technologies like blockchain and AI reshape coordination and value creation. At Harvard, I helped launch and co-led the Crypto Lab with @skominers, researching how blockchains and marketplaces can reshape industries. At @StoryProtocol, I worked as Head of Special Projects, mostly focused on the intersection of AI and IP. This included hosting conversations with leading AI leaders, writing research deep dives on AI x Crypto (H/T to @svenwelly for the collaboration), and AI incubations. Alongside, I’ve spent the last few years writing, advising, and helping launch ventures at the frontier of AI, crypto, and digital IP. In the last few months, I've had the pleasure to work with @SPChinchali and @sarickshah to explore ideas in AI. We followed a very 0 to 1 approach, speaking with a few dozen leading AI companies to understand where they were bottlenecked. Over and over again, we heard they weren't bottlenecked at the model architecture or compute layer, but that data was running dry from the well of the Internet. What’s left no longer offers a competitive advantage because everyone has access to it. What they needed instead was long tail / hard-to-get data that was ideally created for their use case. Data like people doing common chores in first person, or people reading transcripts in dialects that weren't readily available. More importantly, they want the data to be IP-cleared so that they can legitimately commercialize whatever they build downstream. AI’s data layer is a coordination game: how do we match supply and demand such that everyone is happy. Poseidon is the most concrete realization of these needs that connects the dots: → Data is IP → IP needs infrastructure (cue @StoryProtocol) → Infrastructure needs to work for, not against, AI (cue @psdnai) Poseidon aims to: (1) create a data layer that coordinates the supply and demand for data (2) enshrine the rights to that data on Story L1 as programmable IP so AI systems can legitimately use it Poseidon is only possible on Story's IP blockchain. We are excited to go on this journey and build at the intersection of two of the most important technologies of our lifetimes. Thanks to all who supported, more to come soon!