You mention the idea of this program is to help AI builders by providing dev tooling, documentation, and a more direct point of contact, but it would be great to clarify what exactly you mean by that. More specifically, what kind of support do you think AI-focused projects require that’s different from what Arbitrum already offers to builders in general?
Let’s set aside the question of whether AI agents should be a priority for Arbitrum in the first place. Before funding a new program, it would help to have a clearer picture of what’s missing and why. Saying “we need dev tooling, documentation, and points of contact” is a bit vague.
It might be more effective to 1) identify a few well-established AI builders in the space, 2) ask them about what they need and why Arbitrum might not currently meet those needs, and 3) use these insights to create a more detailed plan for how to fill the gaps.
As others have mentioned, there’s a program that has already been set up to support AI-driven projects on Arbitrum, so it’s worth exploring whether the existing team can gather and address these insights instead of hiring a whole new group. That way, we make sure we’re not duplicating work or using extra resources on problems that can be solved with existing ones.
Although the proposal has already been paused, but since I just got to it, I also want to add a couple of my thoughts.
I often use chatgpt and the grok and other AI tools, but I almost never use AIagents, although I have been in crypto for a very long time(maybe i’m too old for this ). I remember how in 2021 everyone was talking about how Metaverses are the future and everyone urgently needs to make their own metaverses. And where are all these projects now? The trend has passed and it’s all over. What do I want to convey with this?
Firstly, Arbitrum has already missed this trend, so to speak, the train has left.
Secondly, the trend itself has also seemingly ended.
Maybe we don’t need to single out a separate group for AI trends. We have wonderful programs, for example, Stylus: the project could receive a grant for development if it is useful for the ecosystem. But it seems that there are none now as far as I know(or am I wrong and we have one or a couple?), since there is no demand, the trend is fading.
But for the future, as an option, simply allocate a quota for AIagents in programs such as Stylus, for example. I think this will be a good solution, than to create a separate group and allocate a separate budget.
This discussion around the ‘Not Missing the AI Train’ proposal has been insightful, and I appreciate the proactive decision to pause in light of Offchain Labs’ existing efforts. This reflects a key strength of decentralized governance, adaptive decision-making based on community feedback and alignment with ongoing initiatives.
I am a little worried however that such a large chain/project has solutions being modelled out for such a large industry by only one team, I think there is still room for a project like this, perhaps on a smaller scale with key deliverables such as ‘collaborate to launch an AI Agent launch pad’ create a weekly or monthly demo show on youtube, monthly hackathon collaboration with prizes.
Smaller team, smaller budget. AI is not a flash in the pan, every single one of the top tech companies has almost dropped everything they’re doing to also ‘jump on the bandwagon’, we need to not only jump, but LEAP!
I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
). I remember how in 2021 everyone was talking about how Metaverses are the future and everyone urgently needs to make their own metaverses. And where are all these projects now? The trend has passed and it’s all over. What do I want to convey with this?