The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast
Who will own the future of AI? The giants of Big Tech? Maybe. But what if the people could own AI, not the Big Tech oligarchs? This is the promise of Decentralized AI. And this is the podcast for in-depth conversations on topics like decentralized data markets, on-chain AI agents, decentralized AI compute (DePIN), AI DAOs, and crypto + AI. From host Jeff Wilser, veteran tech journalist (from WIRED to TIME to CoinDesk), host of the "AI-Curious" podcast, and lead producer of Consensus' "AI Summit." Presented by Vana.
The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast
Deep-Dive into Decentralized AI Data Marketplaces, w/ Vana co-founder Art Abal
What if your personal data wasn’t being harvested — but instead valued, tokenized, and returned to you?
That’s the radical shift proposed by Vana, a platform building decentralized data marketplaces that aim to give users economic power over their own data.
In this episode of "The People's AI," we speak with Art Abal, Vana’s co-founder, to unpack how today’s data economy works behind the scenes — and why it’s fundamentally broken. In this episode, we explore how data is currently bought and sold by tech giants, what it would take to redesign that infrastructure around user ownership, and how Vana’s VRC-20 token could be the first step in treating data as a liquid, tradable asset.
We go deep on:
- Why centralized data brokers still dominate AI training pipelines
- How “data market makers” could unlock liquidity in user-owned datasets
- The mechanics and philosophy behind the VRC-20 token
- Real-world case studies, like data DAOs for Reddit and electric vehicle telemetry
- The path toward Universal Data Income (UDI) — and how it might reshape AI’s future
Whether you’re a builder, investor, or simply data-curious, this episode offers a look into a future where AI and Web3 integration doesn’t just protect your privacy — it pays you back.
Please subscribe, share, and join the conversation.
About Vana:
Vana's mission is to enable user-owned AI through user-owned data. Vana recently announced a collaboration with Flower Labs to build the world’s first user-owned foundation model.
About Vana's collaboration with Flower:
https://www.vana.org/posts/vana-flower-labs-partnership
More on Vana:
Vana on Twitter/X:
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