Building in the light.

Building the world's first open-source AI governance framework.

In the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence, many companies choose to develop their products in "stealth mode".

Our Own AI (OOAI) is an open-source AI governance framework, and we embrace transparency. We are building the opposite of a blackbox. Sharing our journey will likely help us to build the best possible framework for the maximum possible number of people.

What will OOAI look like?
For the most part, you won't see it. OOAI is designed to be a hyper scalable messaging backend and interface from Web 2.0 to Web3. It utilises a decentralised messaging framework with end-to-end encryption, allowing you to store your messaging data securely, sharing it only with entities and agents you trust or need to interact with. We don't think Web 2.0 is going away any time soon. Many legacy systems and even futuristic city-scale IoT solutions are going to employ the battle-hardened Web 2.0 approach to securing networks and systems at relatively efficient costs. As an example, Web3 doesn't yet offer solutions to address data intensive streaming operations. OOAI will let you bridge the gap selectively with blockchains and smart contracts.

In a future where corporations and large institutions continue to hoard your data with Web 2.0 philosophies, users will move towards self-custodial Web3 solutions. As users become accustomed to self-custody and start to expect a higher degree of privacy protection and transparency in communication, they will need an open-source framework to interact with large data brokers. OOAI addresses this need by embedding user-preferred data contracts into the framework and its protocols, leveraging technologies like the VerifiableCredential struct and the Wallet struct for decentralised identity and secure data sharing. This approach is an important step towards changing the power dynamic. The framework also incorporates advanced features like the Delegate Graph and Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF) to enhance user interactions and decision-making processes transparently.

It will take a groundswell of Web3 adoption by the masses to reverse the continued data exploitation by large data brokers. OOAI aims to facilitate this transition through its comprehensive and user-centric approach to data ownership and AI governance. By leveraging advanced encryption algorithms, data protection mechanisms like the PII Handler, and the integration of zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption, OOAI empowers users with greater control over their personal information while enabling secure computation on encrypted data.

OOAI will still have front-ends. You will be able to connect your favourite messaging app to OOAI. For example, OOAI will let you instantiate secure channels via Telegram where you can store your messages, using our MessageRouter and MessageEncryption modules for secure cross-platform communication. We're also releasing an open-source, distributable messaging interface. You will be able to use your Web3 credentials to securely instantiate a channel so that all of your conversations are securely stored in one place. On the roadmap is also a portal which will allow you to view and configure your preferences, tweak flows to your liking, and interact with our AI modules and Rules Engine for intelligent, context-aware experiences.

We will be gathering feedback as we go. Subjects like AI ethics will require a wide variety of perspectives and inputs to reach the healthiest decisions. We look forward to your engagement through both the fun and the frightening, and we plan to implement a decentralised governance framework to ensure community participation in key decisions.

OOAI's open-source strategy allows for collaborative development of AI governance principles. This approach can lead to more robust and widely applicable frameworks, as it harnesses collective expertise and diverse perspectives. It also promotes transparency, enabling scrutiny of the decision-making processes behind AI governance. This openness can foster trust and potentially accelerate advancements in ethical AI development.

The choice of the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL) for OOAI offers several advantages over more permissive licences like MIT, particularly for a crucial public interest project focused on AI governance and user empowerment:

Strong copyleft protection: AGPL ensures that any modifications or derivative works must also be open-sourced under the same licence, maintaining the project's openness and preventing proprietary forks.
Network use clause: AGPL requires that even network-based applications using the software must make their source code available, which is particularly relevant for AI and web services.
Encourages contribution: The strict requirements of AGPL can motivate companies using the software to contribute back to the project, fostering a more collaborative ecosystem.
Alignment with project values: AGPL's philosophy aligns well with OOAI's emphasis on user empowerment and transparency in AI.
Protection against exploitation: AGPL helps prevent large corporations from using the project's code without giving back, a crucial consideration in the fast-moving AI field.
Community building: The licence can attract contributors who are passionate about open source and share the project's values.

This licensing approach reinforces OOAI's commitment to collaborative development, transparency, and ethical AI advancement. It ensures that the collective expertise harnessed through open-source development remains accessible to all, fostering trust and accelerating progress in AI governance frameworks.

Developing an open-source AI governance framework presents several challenges. Balancing diverse opinions on ethical issues while maintaining a coherent framework can be complex. Ensuring that the framework remains adaptable to rapidly evolving AI technologies is another hurdle. OOAI mitigates potential conflicts between open-source principles and commercial interests by decoupling intellectual property from commercial funding. Development is community-driven and project operating costs are funded directly through a token-economy used to pay for digital infrastructure.

A brief history.

How we got here and where we're going.

OOAI started life as Big Bot in 2015. It was a low-code messaging and bot development framework designed to make automation and NLP more accessible to small and medium enterprises.

It had out of the box workflows and a graphical interface for building and publishing custom flows. It gained some early traction among small and medium enterprises as a CRM/ERP plugin, primarily for its unique features including ORM-integrated data visualisation.

Big Bot faced failed to raise the capital it needed in 2021 as several prominent venture capital firms declined to invest, citing concerns about an unclear market size and the open-source first ethos of the project. Big Bot languished for a couple of years as an open-source project without an active development team. Various modules from the project found their way into proofs-of-value type projects but chatbots didn't seem to stick.

Along came ChatGPT.

Our project found new life in 2022 when it secured a licensing deal for a giga-project funded by the Saudi Arabian government. The project needed a city-scale operating system to enable intelligent dialogue between people and machines - this matched Big Bot's tagline perfectly.

As the project continued to build momentum in 2023, progress was occasionally hindered by external factors and misaligned design principles. Recognising the need for a more sustainable development environment, OOAI's founder made the strategic decision to pivot the technology away from its Web2 shackles and into the more open and inclusive Web3 ecosystem.

Big Bot has been reborn as Our Own AI, reflecting the open values and licensing strategy that we hope will someday make the technology ubiquitous. We hope OOAI will some day be an integral part of the world's Web3 and AI fabric.

OOAI is not a for profit entity and exists to steer the development of the software for the public good.

OOAI's founder, TS Lee, was the author of the original Big Bot framework and continues to passionately lead the architecture and design philosophies of OOAI.

OOAI's Treasury is funded by TS. OOAI's experienced board and early contributors include:

TS Lee - Technical Direction
(HSBC, Atkins, NEOM)

John Cordova - Legal Strategy
(HSBC, Grab)

Melissa Lim - Digital Marketing and Web3 Community Outreach
(Cartier, Go7, Lady Boss)

Alex Tay - Commercial Strategy
(Scoot, Watch Box)

Cumarran Kaliyaperumal
(Google, Microsoft, McKinsey)

Open-source principles promote free access to and modification of software code, while commercial interests often involve proprietary technology and profit motives. OOAI faces the challenge of creating a framework that upholds open-source values of transparency and collaboration, while also being attractive and useful to commercial AI developers. This might involve finding ways to allow companies to use the framework without compromising their competitive advantages or intellectual property.

OOAI will support Solana at launch. Solana was chosen for its low cost, secure and fast transaction settlements. Not all transactions are recorded on-chain. We believe a hybrid approach is required to mitigate the high cost associated with on-chain transactions.

Our roadmap explores the possibility of launching a dedicated network on Substrate for better autonomy. Such a migration would only benefit the community if a significant economy of scale is achieved (e.g. 5 million+ MAU).

Your data is your own.

Decentralising Governance with Self-Custody Data

In the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3 and artificial intelligence, projects face numerous challenges in scaling, maintaining user privacy, fostering long-term ecosystem growth, and ensuring token value stability. Our Own AI (OOAI) is pioneering a revolutionary decentralised and distributed messaging system that empowers users to leverage AI through built-in workflows and efficient data exchange. This innovative approach addresses key issues in AI governance and data ownership, aligning seamlessly with the principles of Web3 and user empowerment.

At the heart of OOAI's innovation is its decentralised messaging framework, which ensures secure and private communication between users and AI agents. These agents are autonomous entities governed by policies, rules, and AI integrations, allowing for a flexible and adaptive ecosystem.

The sophisticated MessageRouter, a core component of OOAI's architecture, consumes messages from various brokers (e.g., MQTT) and intelligently classifies them based on content and metadata. It then routes these messages to corresponding Kafka topics and MQTT topics as CloudEvents, creating a robust foundation for scalable and privacy-preserving AI interactions. This intricate system demonstrates OOAI's commitment to building a secure and efficient data exchange platform.

Decentralised identity management plays a pivotal role in OOAI's vision, seamlessly integrating with a token-based system and associated economic models. The implementation of verifiable credentials enhances data security and enables users to store their credentials in a self-sovereign manner, putting control back into the hands of individuals.

OOAI's flow-based architecture provides a powerful framework for defining and executing complex workflows. This flexibility allows for the creation of dynamic algorithms and AI-driven processes that can adapt to user needs and preferences. The innovative Flowgorithm struct is a key component, enabling the processing of user instructions, generation of logic, and creation of flows based on predefined and custom blocks.

By combining these cutting-edge technologies and approaches, OOAI is setting a new standard for decentralised AI governance and data exchange. As the project continues to evolve, it promises to reshape the landscape of AI and Web3 integration, offering users unprecedented control over their data and AI interactions while fostering a vibrant and sustainable ecosystem.

OOAI (Our Own AI) is not an AI system itself, but rather a decentralised messaging and AI governance framework.

Its purpose is to enable users to interact with various AI systems (like large language models) more safely and effectively.

Unlike traditional setups where users directly interact with a single AI provider, OOAI acts as a self-custodial intermediary layer. It allows users to leverage multiple AI services while maintaining control over their data and reducing overexposure of personal information. The framework includes advanced messaging and routing technologies to ensure secure, private communication between users and different AI agents. By doing so, OOAI aims to reduce over-reliance on any single AI provider and enhance user privacy and data control in daily AI interactions.

A decentralised messaging framework is a system where messages are sent and received without relying on a single central server. In OOAI, this framework uses technologies like MQTT and Kafka to route messages securely between users and AI agents.

This is important because it enhances privacy, reduces the risk of data breaches, and gives you, the user, more control over their information. It's a key part of making AI interactions more secure and user-centric in the Web3 era.

Verifiable credentials are digital versions of physical credentials (like ID cards or certificates) that can be cryptographically verified. In OOAI, users can store these credentials themselves (known as "self-sovereign" storage) rather than relying on a central authority. This gives you, the end-user, more control over personal information, allowing you to choose what information to share and with whom.

It's a way of bringing the concept of personal ID management into the digital age, aligned with Web3 principles of user empowerment and data ownership.

Scaling sustainably.

Scaling Through a Dual-Asset Strategy

In the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3, projects face numerous challenges in scaling, maintaining token value, and fostering long-term ecosystem growth. Our Own AI (OOAI) is pioneering a decentralised and distributed Web3 project to enable better AI governance. OOAI has developed an innovative approach to address these issues, utilising a dual-asset strategy that aligns with the project's long-term vision.

Addressing Market Volatility and Token Value Stability

One of the primary challenges in the cryptocurrency market is extreme price volatility, which can deter long-term investors and hinder project development. OOAI's tokenomics paper introduces a sophisticated dual-asset treasury system, combining a fixed supply of 7 billion OOAI tokens with over 10 billion KIN tokens as a strategic reserve.

This approach aims to stabilise the OOAI token value by leveraging KIN's projected growth in the micropayments vertical – estimated at 5 to 30 times over the next three years. By implementing dynamic pricing mechanisms and liquidity controls, OOAI seeks to mitigate the impact of market fluctuations and encourage long-term holding.

Aligning Incentives for Sustainable Growth

Another significant challenge in the Web3 space is aligning the interests of developers, contributors, and the broader ecosystem. OOAI's tokenomics paper outlines an innovative reward mechanism that addresses this issue head-on.

The system pays contributors at a base price but allows them to sell only a proportion of their OOAI tokens at a higher price. This approach incentivises contributors to work towards increasing the project's overall market valuation, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to long-term success.

Overcoming Liquidity and Distribution Challenges

Many blockchain projects struggle with token distribution and liquidity management. OOAI's dual-asset strategy introduces a staggered liquidity provision mechanism, which aims to prevent immediate sell-offs while ensuring sufficient market liquidity.

The tokenomics paper details a distribution schedule designed to release tokens to project contributors over 50 months, with a decreasing rate over time. This controlled distribution, coupled with dynamic liquidity management, seeks to create a more stable and sustainable token ecosystem.

Leveraging Advanced Algorithms for Market Stability

In an era of increasing market manipulation and volatility, OOAI's approach incorporates sophisticated algorithms for market stability and anomaly detection. The tokenomics paper outlines graph-based techniques to identify unusual patterns or manipulative activities in the market, demonstrating a commitment to creating a robust and resilient token ecosystem.

Fostering Collaboration in the Web3 Ecosystem

OOAI's strategy emphasises collaboration with other goal-aligned projects in the Web3 space. By leveraging the growth potential of KIN tokens and fostering partnerships, OOAI aims to create a network effect that benefits the entire blockchain community.

A New Paradigm for Scaling in Web3

OOAI's novel approach to scaling, as outlined in its tokenomics paper, addresses several key challenges faced by blockchain projects today. By combining a fixed supply of OOAI tokens with KIN tokens as a strategic reserve, implementing sophisticated reward and liquidity mechanisms, and leveraging advanced algorithms, OOAI presents a promising model for sustainable growth in the Web3 ecosystem.

As the project continues to evolve, it will be interesting to observe how this innovative dual-asset strategy performs in practice and whether it can set a new standard for token economics and ecosystem development in the blockchain space.

The dual-asset strategy combines a fixed supply of OOAI tokens with KIN tokens as a strategic reserve. This approach aims to leverage KIN's projected growth in micropayments to stabilize OOAI's value. By implementing dynamic pricing mechanisms and liquidity controls, the strategy seeks to mitigate market fluctuations and create a more stable economic environment for long-term growth and development.

OOAI implements a nuanced reward mechanism where contributors receive a base payment but can only sell a proportion of their OOAI tokens at premium prices. This structure is designed to encourage contributors to focus on increasing the project's overall market valuation. Additionally, a staggered token distribution schedule over 50 months aims to promote sustained engagement and discourage short-term speculation.