What Exactly Are iNFTs?
Many newcomers to the NFT space are rightfully skeptical of the utility of these unconventional products. How could a digital image that can be copied infinitely possibly have value? What use could this possibly have? Today, we hope to answer these questions, and discuss what new possibilities might be on the horizon of the space. It is our contention that NFTs will not only change how we do business in the future, but how we interact with technology itself.
NFTs are primarily touted as a new method of securing intellectual property rights on the blockchain. However, there are many other uses being found every day. Many companies are using NFTs to raise money, market their products, and create exclusive communities of loyal users. Other benefits and features can be programmed into NFTs as well. This can be seen in blockchain-based games like KittyKart in the form of functional virtual property. These pieces of art secured on the blockchain are no longer simply collectibles, but are incredibly useful tools that add a whole new creative dynamic to business in general. They are marketing and branding tools, community identifiers, and much more.
In the future, many more applications will be found, and the conventional business world will be forced to rethink their approach to forming community relationships. One of the newest concepts that will likely make the most disruptive impact, is the iNFT, or Intelligent Non-Fungible Token. An iNFT not only represents the ownership of a symbol, character, and/or community membership, but also the ownership of an artificial intelligence (AI). Unlike conventional NFTs, iNFTs can be interacted with, they can learn, and they can change and evolve over time.
Alethea AI, a speaker at Culture’s Virtual Beings Summit, is creating a series of iNFTs that will be one of the first examples of this new concept. Alethea produces NFTs of historical persons that are powered by their AI program. Each NFT not only looks like that historical person, but simulates that person’s personality. Other NFTs can be used as well in their “Noah’s Ark Metaverse.” One can speak to the AIs, train them, and earn tokens by doing so. While it’s difficult to imagine the use-cases for this incredible innovation, it is clear that there are many waiting to be tested, and Kitty hopes to be at the forefront. We plan to train Kitty herself in one of Alethea’s “pods,” develop her personality, and send her out into the Metaverses!
It is certainly of great interest to many to be able to ask for advice from the ghostly apparitions of their heroes, but there are many purely business-oriented reasons to look forward to the blossoming of the iNFT space. For example, companies today have already begun to give their brands human personalities on social media sites like Twitter. Among many others, the Wendy’s and Hardee’s accounts actually have twitter beef. Pun intended;). While these humorous interactions are definitely great marketing, at a deeper level they signal a change in the way businesses interact with their customers. Brands seem to be anthropomorphizing, attempting to relate with their customers at a more human level.
The main defining factor of the iNFT is the ownership of the AI. iNFTs learn and become unique characters that can be traded and utilized for different purposes. A popular character might be purchased or rented out to various companies for the creation of promotional or entertaining content. Other types of AI might be used in conjunction with NFTs for more technical purposes too, but that’s for another post. As AI improves, we could see brands learn and come to life with only limited human guidance behind them. These semi-independent characters would be interoperable with various metaverses and applications, spreading a company’s brand almost automatically in fun and interesting ways.
With all of this in mind, we are very excited to begin work on upgrading our Kitty NFTs. Soon, Kitty will have a life of her own! There are so many applications for blockchain-secured AI property (iNFTs) that it would be difficult to list them all here. However, the future is just beginning, and life will always keep us on our toes with a little bit of mystery.
We’re glad you joined us for our first blog post! We’ll be posting every Monday so check back with us for more. Or, you can subscribe to our newsletter and get notified of new posts, as well as updates on the project. We’ll see you next time!
