- CloudSight will use the Lightning Network for microtransactions to transmit visual knowledge.
- Co-founder of CloudSight Brad Folkens said, “AI can leverage this communications network in order to question its immediate environment and learn in real-time.”
- Plans in the works to implement the technology to make self-driving cars safer.
CloudSight – an LA-based Artificial Intelligence start-up – has announced it will be using the Lightning Network to facilitate microtransactions between AI devices. Allowing emerging technology – such as self-driving cars – to share visual knowledge, learn from one another, and communicate more efficiently.
How Does the Lighting Network Fit in With AI?
By using the Lightning Network to facilitate the instant microtransactions between AI devices, the end user of the AI device – such as a self-driving car owner – ultimately benefits. It results in needing less data services, which can prove costly, and faster transaction times. It also gives developers the ability to connect their application to all the other cars and devices on the road. Essentially, this builds a network of self-driving cars, traffic cameras, and satellites that can all share enhanced image data faster and at a lower cost than ever before.
Brad Folkens (CloudSight Co-Founder) said in recent a blog post, “Imagine, your self-driving car needs to know what an unknown object is in the road ahead. This autonomous AI network will allow it to ask surrounding cars what it could be or reach out to a data provider for more information. Once the car gathers the information, it could then be compensated for that fee by other cars asking the same question.”
Why Use Bitcoin?
CloudSight implemented support of the Lighting Network for a variety of reasons. However – according to Folkens – the main reason behind the decision is that Bitcoin is “secure, it’s decentralized, and it enables two parties, including AI, to engage in a transaction where they don’t need prior trust. All of these features are critical for autonomous entities to communicate with each other, enabling information exchange in a new AI-based economy.”
Will this Technology Make Roads Safer?
The visual recognition software offered by CloudSight performs automated image captioning, image classification, fine-grained object recognition, and scene understanding. If implemented into self-driving cars, it has the potential to help reduce road traffic accidents by other cars further up the road. This works by transmitting warnings of an object in the road – or any danger such as a pothole, collision, or slow-moving vehicle – back to other self-driving cars who are approaching, which can then take evasive action.
It isn’t just roads and self-driving cars that can benefit from this advanced technology. It can be implemented into almost every form of automated transport – whether it is airplanes, trains, or boats.
The Lightning Network has been showing a lot of promise since the launch of its 0.4 beta back in March. Just this week a Portuguese developer paired Pokémon with the Lightning Network, so expect further exciting developments in the future.
