AMA Recap: Chess, Founder of GM Network, Talks AI + DePIN and More

On last Thursday, 16 May 2024, the GM Network community welcomed its founder, Chess, to their first-ever AMA session.

Chess shared crucial insights and updates on the future of GM, covering topics ranging from the integration of AI and DePIN, upcoming white paper release, project launch strategies, and much more.

Here’s a detailed recap of the questions and answers discussed during the session.

1. Why did we choose AI + DePIN?

Ten years ago, I was involved in IoT in Web2, working on smart devices like HomePod, Google Nest, Amazon Echo, and wristbands. IoT is fascinating because it goes beyond just GPUs or modules, which most people don’t understand. People use products like iPhones without needing to know how they’re made. Similarly, AI and DePIN can make technology accessible and easy to use, which is why we find them exciting.

2. How does AI use the data received from DePIN?

AI needs 3 things for DePIN: KPU, data and scenario.
AI needs a lot of KPU to train. There are a lot of projects that are trying to build this. However, that’s not the way we want to build since we want to focus on the consumer side. KPU, storage, and decentralized are all about the business side.
The other two ways, data and scenario, are the ones we want to focus on. All DePINs are miners. Even your iPhone is a mining machine because it generates your data every day. The data can be trained between AI like personal AI agents or AI companions.
There’s a report saying that there are 20 billion IoT devices on Earth but we only have 8 billion people. Thus, a lot of devices are produced by different factories or different areas of companies every day. All the machines generate lots of data. We want to make sure that AI can train all kinds of data.
We focus more on the consumer side because consumer data is more valuable. Just imagine, if your data is generated by an iPhone, and iPhone will pay you every day or every month which you could claim tokens from it. It should be a positive feedback for users, for developers and also for companies.
As for scenario, for example, there’s a device called Rabbit R1. It’s like a phone without a touch screen which you only can use your voice to operate it. We could see a lot of new DePIN devices bring AI to users so everyone can feel the capability and the power of it. We think AI plus DePIN is the solution. The data DePIN devices generated every day can lead scenarios and entry points for AI training.
We can provide all the capability for the AI company, AI projects. For example, our second product, Lucy, is a AI voice device. Imagine in a few months later, we can use Lucy as like, ” Hey Lucy, tell me what’s the best memes in Solana today?” Lucy will tell you the answer. And even once you’re verified, you could buy something through our app, you can say, “Hey Lucy, can you buy $100 ETH tokens for me?” Your AI companion will do all the things for you, it’s like your friend, like a companion, even like yourself.
We want to make sure everything is cool with the scenarios. Since there are a lot of AI projects, they need scenarios, and for sure, they need us.

3. When will we launch our white paper?

Next week.(Said on May 16th)
We will upload our white paper of what we are doing, the whole philosophy about the GM network, and the whole story of why we building this.

4. Why did we choose to use the OP Stack instead of Arbitrum Orbit or Polygon CDK?

We insist GM is layer 2 but not layer 3 because we want to support different projects to build on GM. To build on GM, you can deploy your dApps, and also you can deploy your layer 3 building by layer 2.
Arbitrum Orbit can only build on layer 2 but not layer 3. Also, we all know like Base is also using the OP stack. They have a new version called Super Chain.
Another part why we use Eigen DA is because Eigen layer caters to Ethereum and we love it so much. AVS is the best thing I think in Ethereum, because it can mix all layer 2 and layer 3 and dApps’ security more easily and not at a high cost, and also very convenient.
And we can even use our own tokens, GM tokens, to support the security stability in the whole GM ecosystem. Thus, we choose to use OP stack and Eigen DA as our chain structure.

5. Will GM Launchpad launch other kinds of projects or only DePIN projects? If not why not?

GM Launchpad is not a token launchpad. It is more like a web3 Kickstarter.
It is mainly about presales because DePIN has a long building process. The reason we build GM launchpad is that we want to have all the developers and startups accelerate their building processes.
We focus on DePIN devices or DePIN NFTs with “AI Power first, consumer second, and DePIN third” as the keywords for us.

6. Are there benefits for holding multiple NFTs?

We are still preparing for the NFT staking system. Before the NFT staking, all the holders just have to hold their NFTs in their wallets. We will snapshot randomly to accumulate the GN points before the staking system is live.
I know many people wondering why can’t we see the total points on the dashboard now. Don’t worry, once we have the NFT staking system, this problem will be solved. Also, holding multiple NFTs will have unexpected surprises too.

7. About tokens?

For the tokens, the whole GM ecosystem will only have 1 token, that is GM tokens.
In the future, GN will be transferred to GM. However, like Yozoo and other ecosystem projects, they might have their own tokens.
GM is layer 2, but not DeFi layer 2. We will not participate in TVL. We care about the TDVL, which means Total Device Value Lock, the more DePIN devices we’ve connected in the GM network, the more value we will have.

8. About referrals?

As the announcement we posted a few days ago, we have temporarily stopped the referral system. However, after upgrading with a better calculation system and sybil protections, it will be back.
There will also be something called GM dealers. Since we will have more and more different kinds of DePIN devices, we want to seek people from different countries and you can sell the different devices in your hometown, in your home countries. We will have the referral commission for being a GM dealer.
We will also have some other kinds of encouragement and incentives.

9. About gear NFTs?

The gears and the agents are both the core NFT assets in our ecosystem. Both of them have different rarities like uncommon, common, rare, epic, legendary.
You can level up your agents and gears in the future, for more details, please wait for our official announcement. With DePIN and AI, you can use all the different kinds of gears every day and they will generate the data. In return, you will receive different kinds of tokens in the whole ecosystem. You can use the different tokens to swap, to trade, and to form different kinds of new assets.

10. Any information about the team, how many people, and any experience before CyberV?

We are a solid team with around 30 full-time members in different countries. GM Labs was founded nearly three years ago. As for the background, I entered the crypto world in 2018 and joined Cobo. Cobo Wallet is one of the biggest Asia custodian companies today. From Cobo, I met a bunch of cool people. They become our core team members and have worked with me for six years. We are not just colleagues but close friends.

11. About fundraising?

GM Network is one of the products developed by the GM Labs. We have nearly 10 million fundraising within GM Labs. At this stage, we will not announce the details of investors since we want to make our community pure with enthusiasts who really love our products, our scenario, our narratives about GM Network, and the whole AI and DePIN story.

Stay tuned for more updates as GM Network continues to innovate and expand its ecosystem, blending AI and DePIN to create valuable, user-friendly solutions for the future. With a robust team and a clear vision, GM Network aims to revolutionize the interaction between AI and decentralized infrastructure. The upcoming white paper will provide detailed insights into their strategic approach and long-term goals.

The launch of the NFT staking system, the introduction of GM dealers, and the development of AI companions like Lucy point towards a dynamic, evolving ecosystem. These advancements aim to enhance user experience and provide tangible benefits for participation.

GM Network’s focus on Total Device Value Lock (TDVL) highlights their commitment to integrating real-world devices with blockchain technology, ensuring each connected device contributes to the ecosystem’s value. The team’s extensive experience in the crypto space and strategic decisions, such as using the OP Stack, demonstrate their dedication to building a secure and versatile platform.

Join the GM Network community to be part of this exciting journey and witness how they are shaping the future of AI and decentralized technology.