Sahara AI, a rising star in the tech industry, has successfully raised $43 million to advance its ambitious goal of creating a decentralized, collaborative platform that merges artificial intelligence with blockchain technology.
The funding round saw heavyweights like Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, and Polychain Capital leading the charge, alongside contributions from Samsung NEXT, Matrix Partners, and others.
Founded in 2022, Sahara AI is challenging the status quo in the AI industry, where large, centralized entities typically control the development and deployment of AI models.
The company’s vision is to democratize AI by offering a platform where contributors can directly participate in and benefit from the AI development process.
This approach contrasts sharply with the current Web2 paradigm, where users often trade their knowledge and data without transparency or compensation.
Sean Ren, CEO and co-founder of Sahara AI, explained that the platform will enable on-chain attribution throughout the AI development cycle.
This means that everyone involved—from those operating infrastructure to those fine-tuning models or contributing knowledge—will receive fair rewards.
“In the current landscape, users often have no visibility into how their data and models are used, and there’s a lack of protection for their contributions. We aim to change that by providing a transparent, secure framework through our Sahara Blockchain Protocols,” said Ren.
These protocols, according to Ren, are designed to ensure that AI assets are securely tracked, licensed, and attributed, allowing for fair compensation and safeguarding contributors’ rights.
This decentralized approach also addresses growing concerns about who controls AI systems and how they are used, promoting both privacy and inclusivity in the process.
Tyler Zhou, co-founder and COO of Sahara AI, echoed these sentiments, noting that the team identified these issues in the AI landscape early on and began developing solutions well before the current boom in generative AI.
“We saw a need for a more transparent, decentralized AI ecosystem where users know how their contributions are used and have control over their data,” Zhou remarked.
