Please describe your proposed solution.
<u>Summary</u>:
Bringing together expertise in neuroscience, AI/ML, blockchain, and cutting-edge art, Taylor Kuhn, Gabriel Axel Montes, Refik Anadol, and Lev Gottlieb are submitting a proposal to the Cardano Project Catalyst Fund9 Challenge: Dynamic mind-brain NFTs for web3.
This proposal aims aims to execute the necessary Research & Development (R&D) to create dynamic NFT's that map to functions of the mind and brain. This follows on our current work on NEURALPRINT, an authentication technology based on user’s unique cognitive profile (Architex) as well as dynamic neural and biometric signatures. The overarching goal of the NEURALPRINT project is to unlock deeper functionalities in web3 through the use of mind-brain data for authentication and credentialing. To represent this data on the blockchain, NFTs must be created that correspond to specific mind-brain states. However, the nature of the brain is dynamic, not static, so it is necessary to create dynamic NFT's that match the updating structure of the brain. Dynamic NFT's will also double serve to match dynamic environments, such as metaverses and spatially complex scenarios in real life, e.g. autonomous vehicles, supply chain, etc. The present proposal serves to develop the architecture for dynamic NFT's that match the relevant brain architecture, and then to unite this development with NEURALPRINT's authentication technology. The NFT's will be designed with an aesthetic/artistic component, to be served by the professional and renown artwork of Refik Anadol (see below).
<u>More about NEURALPRINT</u>:
Current authentication mechanisms – such as fingerprints, passwords, and crypto keys – are not adequately secure, and the dozens of passwords depend on memory or centralized password managers. NEURALPRINT aims to frog-leap over these hurdles by offering a convenient and easy solution to authentication: simply letting your unique biometric 'fingerprint' (cognitive style, brain-wave and heart-rate) do the work. These capabilities are quickly becoming recognized as necessary for complex environments such as AR/VR and metaverses – something not possible using static forms of ID like actual fingerprints, passwords, and crypto keys. NEURALPRINT will provide users a unique ID coded on the blockchain and paired with a personalized NFT based on their own data, both of which will serve as their tangible NeuralPrint for authenticating access to, and having content curated within, digital media.
<u>Impact</u>:
The problem we have set out to solve is essentially comprised of the following:
- (As above), static authentication mechanisms (passwords, actual fingerprints, etc.) are unsophisticated and unprepared for dynamic spatial environments like metaverses and real-life settings, nor are they suited for the cybersecurity needs of these complex environments.
- In the context of web3, current NFT design is too simplistic to represent the dynamic nature of brain states.
Our approach is as proposed because:
- Dynamic NFT's (dNFT's) that map to the multifaceted nature of the mind/brain must be developed in order to unlock the power of the mind/brain in web3.
- It is necessary to conduct Research & Development on how to map properties of the brain into the form of dynamic NFT's while considering their real-world environments of application.
Our project will engage:
- The SingularityNET community (As of Q4, 2021: 100k GitHub commits, 32k+ Telegram members, 60k newsletter subscribers, 26k AGIX token holders, 4.5M organic monthly reach, Top 3 Ai videos on YouTube by Views, 7 of 45 top YouTube videos [over 1M views] listed on “artificial intelligence” search have tech built by the SingularityNET team)
- Teams in various web3 applications, including offerings to the DAO's engaged by Gov3;
- The broader web3 market broadly through marketing;
- Potential collaborators and/or partners.
Being a primarily R&D proposal, the implementations and anticipated products will be:
- Developing an architectural blueprint for brain-based dNFT's;
- Developing a technical design for implementing the dNFT architecture on the blockchain;
- Developing a foundational understanding of how dNFT's could map with biometric signals, e.g. EEG;
- Pathform micro-intervention/-practice design development according to dNFT design/architecture;
- Prototyped or proof-of-concept design completed for brain dynamic NFT's for Cardano blockchain;
- Mapping and/or testing of dNFT design on NEURALPRINT authentication system – and (pending R&D) possible completion;
- Developing essential marketing materials/content for the dNFT's milestones of NEURALPRINT;
- Potential new collaborations and/or partnerships.
Anticipated outcomes as a result of our work from this proposal will be:
- Mapped ability for how the mind/brain can unlock web3 functionalities;
- Readiness to implement the dNFT architecture on the blockchain;
- Improved understanding of how dNFT's could map with biometric signals, e.g. EEG;
- Design of brain dNFT's for Cardano blockchain;
- Greater community awareness of NEURALPRINT vision and development.
=====================
<u>More information</u>:
The present proposal is an outgrowth of PATHFORM (http://pathform.io/pathform), a spin-off project of Cardano partner, SingularityNET, which is a blockchain marketplace for AI services that runs on the Cardano blockchain. Pathform won a Catalyst grant (Fund 7) to fund its prototype app. Pathform offers short, targeted exercises to facilitate well-being. Pathform is the tool by which dynamic brain states are stimulated and sustained, which will be used for launching dynamic NFT's based on real-world brain states. Pathform is in collaboration with ARCHITEX, a digital cognitive assessment tool based on 100 years of neuropsychology, and the present proposal is a result of the synergies between the two, including collaboration between media artist Refik Anadol and project team member, Taylor Kuhn. A near-term use case for NEURALPRINT will be Gov3, a delegation toolkit for DAOs. Gov3 was a funded F7 project co-proposed by one of the present proposers, Gabriel and colleague and DAO expert Kathleen Olstedt. Gov3 currently has an agreed pilot with SingularityDAO, an AI-powered DeFi platform that is part of the SingularityNET ecosystem.
Refik Anadol brain connectome work, in collaboration with co-proposer Dr. Taylor Kuhn [source link]:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/571481502?autoplay=0&color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&muted=1Link to the previously funded F7 proposal for Pathform:
<https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Pathform-Custom-growth-paths/384379-48088>
Link to previously funded F8 proposal for NEURALPRINT:
https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/399656
Fig: Architex - sample basic neuropsychological assessment.
<u>Current NEURALPRINT project work</u>:
1) Developing a functional prototype for authentication capability;
2) Developing the capability to put the unique user identifiers on blockchain.
<u>(Further information about) NEURALPRINT</u>:
- Is offering a capability for static authentication based on a quick neuropsychological assessment;
- Is building a new capability for dynamic authentication based on neural and biometric signatures;
- It is doing so starting with using the cognitive assessment tools provided by Architex (link below) as a basis for creating decentralized identifiers (DID);
- Will add biosensing data streams from EEG, heart rate, and other peripherals;
- Will be integrated with the the short and simple mind exercises of PATHFORM for feeding NEURALPRINT with personalized and targeted information about dynamic brain states;
- Will generate an NFT for each cognitive style, then an NFT for each individual user, and then an NFT for each relevant and practicable unique brain state.
- Will progressively build a personalized, private "digital twin" of a user, enabling insights and future credentialing in a variety of applications;
- Will be prototyped and researched, and be developed with Atala PRISM utilization in mind.
- Aims to be implemented in a near-term use case of team-formation and optimization in organizations, including DAO's.
NEURALPRINT will use a combination of stable and dynamic brain signatures from different contexts to paint a holistic neural 'fingerprint' of the user that fills the gap between digital signature and personal digital twin. A user's neuralprint will represent both a user's stable neural trait(s) and how a user dynamically responds to various contexts (states). This will allow for double-layered, dynamic digital identity that functions as identity verification and an evolving digital twin model of a user's brain patterns that can enable adaptive responses by a user's environment to their brain states in a way that accounts for context and "policies" (the operating code of a given environment).
NEURALPRINT will utilize Architex's granular datapoints from its neuropsychological assessment of cognitive style to create unique identifiers for users, and it will read users' biometric and neural responses to the various mini-exercises provided by Pathform, in order to generate state- and response-based user snapshots that progressively construct a user's evolving, dynamic digital twin. The micro-interventions will support beneficial, uplifting states of consciousness, helping to foster a holistic self-profile and deeper synergy of NEURALPRINT with user's diverse brain states in a way that no other application could conceivably accomplish, due to the convergence of expertise and background of the proposers.
Like a multi-address wallet, the former functions like a root private ID (the static fingerprint), and the latter like child ID's that map to later snapshots of the user. Architex's existing assessment offer the foundation for stable user IDs, and the targeted micro-interventions of Pathform facilitate states of consciousness that can be aggregated to progressively construct the digital twin. Root ID's and valuable child ID's can be used to generate NFT's for applications that merit non-fungibility. These can be grouped into categories with shared traits as may fit particular applications. This project will initially create NFT's for the brain images of Architex's scientifically-informed 64 neural 'archetypes', and evolve from there as warranted.
To illustrate some of the possibilities:
The simplest application is authentication based on brain states. This will use stable brain patterns as well as dynamic (shifting and evolving) brain patterns, which is a natural feature and occurrence in the brain. This will widen the possibilities of authentication into non-static forms that take advantage of the brain's natural fluctuations, something that no other form of authentication today can do. This allows authentication in different states of mind. A simple toy example: Person A has a credential that proves that she is Person A. However, her neuralprint shows her to have a brain state of inebriation and thereby perhaps warns her before she decides to drive and/or turn on autopilot feature (or authorizes her friend to drive instead, or activates autopilot). This demonstrates a "static" ID (the person) and a "dynamic" ID (the state of mind). Beyond being only an authenticator, neuralprinting will become an enabler of new possibilities; depending on mind state or mood, different constructive suggestions can be made. Neuralprinting can also be used to offer users insights into their cognitive styles and help match them with team-mates (e.g. in an organization or DAO). Future applications could expand quite dramatically once the foundational structures are in place, potentially including match-making suggestions for dating.
Architex will provide the static identifier with very low friction for entry. Architex results in a static ID on the blockchain and associated NFT representing the neuralprint for each user which can be used a neuralprint for access to websites and services. Content on those services is tailored to users based on their static ID neuralprint. AI can incorporate feedback based on either direct user response to questions and/or – given user permission – passive collection of users internet activity to improve the curation of that content based on their static ID neuralprint. Addition of biometric-based dynamic signature will allow for expanded functionality including instantaneous unlocking/authentication, dynamic context-dependent utilities.
NEURALPRINT will be available to developers and technical professionals, initially those involved with brain-computer interfaces (BCI's), who will be invited to contribute to the development of the application, its potential uses, and help grow the ecosystem.
NEURALPRINT is intended to offer the additional functionality of neural signatures and credentialing for the Atala PRISM platform.
The target audience of NEURALPRINT beyond development phase includes businesses and individuals who wish to leverage cutting-edge user authentication and profiling beyond the current industry standards and their limited cybersecurity.
Beyond this proposal, NEURALPRINT aims to expand neural signature decentralized identity to various sectors and markets.
A near-term use case is an area in which both team-members (Gabriel & Taylor) have experience and are actively involved: talent networks and human resources.
- NEURALPRINT's neural Identification will be offered for organizational teams (including DAO's) to inform team-building, collaboration, and synergy according to needs and goals.
- Gabriel has experience as ex- Head of HR at SingularityNET, currently works to facilitate organizational change through consulting and talent networks through Singularity Studio (the enterprise solutions arm of SingularityNET), and has a funded F7 proposal for HR for DAO's ("DAOJob; https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/384890). Taylor is already actively offering Architex's assessment tool to an HR company.
NEURALPRINT will utilize Pathform's initial well-being offering as a garden bed for developing and growing its DID features. Pathform's quantitiatively measured micro-interventions allow users to undergo enriching experiences, offer them constructive insights into their minds, and meanwhile help them build an increasingly robust neuralprint. Users will be empowered with consciousness expansion and useful insights into their inner world with a level of precision not found elsewhere.
Farther along, NEURALPRINT will explore the use of the VERSES.io SDK, where our authentication can be used in the Spatial Web, the future of connectivity across dimensions of physical and digital space. Gabriel has a close relationship with VERSES and will be able to leverage the SDK once it is released. VERSES leverages the IEEE open standards protocol Hyperspace Transaction Protocol (HSTP; https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/2874/10375/), which would enable context mapping for NEURALPRINT. This will enable countless application possibilities for NEURALPRINT, from gaming to smart cities.
================
The present proposal arises out of the collaboration between Pathform and Architex. Pathform is incorporating neuro-assessment capabilities in collaboration with Architex, a digital assessment tool based on 100 years of science in functional neuroanatomy and brain-behavior relationships, founded by academic and clinical neuropsychologists. Architex will offer users a rapid assessment of their cognitive strengths to help them discover and appreciate their cognitive style, an in-depth indicator of neuro-cognitive type, with accompanying insights for using this knowledge to elevate performance and thrive. (More information on Architex below and in the attached slide deck.)
=================
An Architex slide deck is attached to this proposal, for reference.
<u>The 2021 Pathform slide deck can be found here, for reference</u>:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aaxWwQiSb9MDLZG87cx5LZ4ViQbl0K7SxSa6TiB_QHk/edit#slide=id.p
<u>The 2021 Pathform litepaper can be found here, for reference</u>:
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IVmilnoGlUUVzKxtSWgJrLG-6ene3QRxBHIsPiQ-K20/edit?usp=sharing>
-------------------------
For reference regarding the artistic potential of the NEURALPRINT NFT's, see Refik Anadol's existing work, such as the machine learning art installation in the lobby of the San Francisco sales office:
- <https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6906616018781773824/>
And Refik's website:
- <https://refikanadol.com/>
==================
The vision of NEURALPRINT contains the combined power and synergy of the visions of Pathform and Architex. The whole of the Pathform roadmap encompasses a long-term project backed by a committed team and vision. It is well beyond the scope of any single Catalyst Challenge. Pathform plans to scale beyond the scope of this Challenge – in number of users, market, and range of applications –, and it aims to continue evolving so as to address large global challenges of our time, directly addressing well-being, consciousness, and technology.
Pathform will directly make use of SingularityNET's marketplace AI services. This means an increase in calls using SingularityNET's AGIX tokens. Because SingularityNET's AGIX token runs on Cardano, this means increased use of the Cardano blockchain. Furthermore, as developers/programmers are a focal sub-audience of Pathform, Pathform's offerings will be available to Plutus developers as well and thus add value to the Cardano community and ecosystem.
We aim for the requested budget (below) to be sufficient to meet our 3-month milestones (see below), which is the intended scope of this Challenge funding request. The greater extent of the project will require more funds, which we plan to request in any combination of the following options in Q2 2022 and beyond, if/as necessary: future Catalyst funding rounds, planned fundraising rounds, possible token generation event.
Community development will be supported by World Systems Solutions (WSS), a collaborator of Pathform, to facilitate the community dialogue and growth toward collaborative education and action around global challenges and development of ethical AI. This is key and core to the progressive decentralization of AI, wherein the community must cultivate an understanding of how to steward technological development and governance toward building a prosperous and beneficial future. For more information, visit https://wssnow.org/social-movement-engine.
Pathform is viewed as mission-critical to the ethical development of AI and advanced technologies in the world as well as the beneficial development of the SingularityNET community.
=======================================
Fig: Pathform - prototype mobile app (beta) screenshot.
<u>About Pathform</u><u> (http://pathform.io/pathform)</u>:
Pathform offers a framework for delivering well-being–oriented exercises and experiences to users via various media, and using AI-based analysis to help optimize and sequence the exercises presented to each user and provide user guidance. This will be initially delivered via mobile app, with virtual world and augmented reality modes also being actively explored.
Well-being exercises include targeted meditation and body-awareness practices and also more innovative techniques, including ones leveraging biofeedback from smartphone peripherals and EEG headsets. The framework is applicable to a wide audience, and is amenable to technical professionals and developers/engineers. Subsequent versions of the framework will also be extended to allow creation and dissemination of properly vetted user-created exercises.
At a deeper and more fundamental level, Pathform aims to create "Precision Consciousness" — the delivery of consciousness micro-interventions targeted to specific needs and neuroscientific functions, personalized to the user to help them cultivate custom, AI-assisted paths of personal growth. Given the shifts in consciousness, Pathform will then help to form collaborative teams with the purpose of co-creatively generating solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, poverty, AI ethics, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's). Beyond simply simply adding to the plethora of wellness offerings on the market, Pathform will use the well-recognized neuroscience of bodily self-consciousness to redefine the field of Experience Design across industries, by offering multi-modal and multi-sensory toolkits for designing beneficial experiences. The sky is the limit, and we are taking it leap by leap.
Pathform will incorporate neuro-assessment capabilities in collaboration with Architex, a digital assessment tool based on 100 years of science in functional neuroanatomy and brain-behavior relationships. Architex in its current form consists of a 6-minute, empirically-informed, quantitative neuropsychological assessment that maps your neurocognitive traits and, based on a multitude of data points, provides insights into a user’s neurocognitive style. In doing so, it captures a litany of neurocognitive domains, many of which are trait-based, some of which are state-based. Thus, Architex provides an individualized, quantitative mapping of each user’s neurocognitive style and strengths. These can be leveraged to personalize precision consciousness, micro-interventions and other user-enhancing recommendations via Pathform.
<u>About Architex</u><u> (https://www.myarchitex.com/)</u>:
Architex is a quick and accessible digital assessment of the brain and mind created by the co-founders of The Integrated Clinic (https://www.theintegratedclinic.com/). Grounded in the science of functional neuroanatomy and brain-behavior relationships, Architex uncovers your cognitive strengths to help you discover and appreciate your ArchiTYPE: an in-depth indicator of your brain type, with accompanying insights for using this knowledge to elevate performance and thrive. Architex distills 100 years of neuropsychological research and a 6-hour test into a 6-minute mobile device test on smartphone/tablet/webapp. Architex moves away from a focus on deficits and diagnosis and toward applied positive neuropsychology, seeking to provide insights into each user’s individual cognitive style in order to help them leverage that insight to improve their daily functioning.
The session first begins with several interview questions about your life, interests, and goals. Next, clients complete the cutting-edge, six-minute Architex assessment on our iPad or web platform. After completion, your results will be computed and presented to you along with an individualized feedback session with our scientists.
Results are presented in two parts: (i) a four-letter acronym, with each letter representing an aspect of your cognitive profile; and (ii) a two-letter code expressing how your strengths uniquely manifest in the world. With Architex, you can leverage your natural neurocognitive talents in school, work, and relationships, all in order to promote your daily functioning. Architex: Learn your brain. Build your life.
Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
Being a primarily oriented around self-sovereign identity (SSI) and decentralized identification (DID), the proposal/project addresses relevant KPI's as follows:
- Positioning Cardano as a leader in the SSI space by proposing an innovative and disruptive authentication solution using cutting edge technology, led by experts in their fields, and choosing to develop this solution through Cardano and Atala PRISM.
- Addresses SSI in a quantifiable manner, through assessment metrics and data, biosensing hardware, and utilization of Atala PRISM.
NEURALPRINT is an unusually novel application in web3, which is being first introduced via Cardano, bringing unique value to the Cardano ecosystem.
What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
Risk (1): Challenge or delay in arriving at the appropriate brain architectural models in time to inform dNFT design.
- We have accounted for this by making this a 6-month project, allowing adequate time to develop architectural models that draw from knowledge in the neuropsychology/neuroscience field.
Risk (2): There is no appropriate dNFT design that can functionally represent anything useful about something as complex as the brain.
- The proposers feel confident in the ability to model the brain at a high-level that can sufficiently enact essential tokenomics for NEURALPRINT dNFT's. More complex layerings for which there are insufficient time in this project length can be delayed for a future date, while using the best possible design in the project timeframe to get started with a functional NFT design.
Risk (3): Challenge or delay in mapping dNFT's to biometric parameters.
- The proposers recognize that mapping biometrics to dNFT's can be an extra challenge. For that reason, we have expressed the intent to begin this exploration with rudimentary design rather than dedicating a large part of the proposal toward this aspect.
The above risks largely represent the challenge with doing scientifically oriented work, especially in combination with another complex and constantly evolving technology, blockchain. We humbly put our best foot forward with enthusiasm and conviction in the overall higher goal of the project.