KuCoin AMA With VAIOT (VAI) — Synergizing AI and Blockchain for Automating Business Processes

Time: August 21, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:06 PM (UTC)

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session with the Chief Operating Officer of VAIOT, Pawel Andruszkiewicz, in the KuCoin Exchange Group.

Official Website: https://vaiot.ai/en#/

Documentation: Click to view

Follow VAIOT on Twitter, Telegram and Discord.

Q: Let's begin by letting you provide us with an elevator pitch and a brief history of the project VAIOT.

Pawel: First of all, VAIOT is an AI, EU-regulated project (under VFA Act in Malta) that integrates AI and Blockchain. We are developing a portfolio of blockchain-based AI Assistants for B2B, B2C, and C2C purposes, with our flagship solution and a base engine being the AI Legal Assistant serving AI-based legal and formal services to make those more affordable and more accessible for regular people.

One of the reasons VAIOT, as a crypto project/digital assets issuer, wanted to use AI was to allow wider adoption of blockchain technology through a set of technologies called Intelligent Contracts – again, blockchain & AI integration.

As you mentioned, we initially cooperated with IBM (joint development project) on our solutions. We partnered with Grant Thornton and DAO Maker, among others, to bring our solutions and digital financial asset – the VAI token- to a new level.

In terms of history, compared to other AI projects, the company was founded in 2018 and went through a couple of funding stages. This allowed us to move into a joint development project with IBM to develop the MVP of our first AI Assistant and engage in a lengthy regulation process in Malta which had just implemented its Virtual Financial Assets regulatory framework.

We got officially regulated in September 2020 as the first company to do so in Malta (EU). We had our regulated token offering in February 2021 with DAO Maker, we then listed on Uniswap, KuCoin, and Gate.io, and since then, we've been delivering our AI Assistant according to our business line scheme with a couple of public beta testing rounds for our software, and that's how we've come to 2023 which is the most crucial year for us with a couple of product releases and other significant events – see our roadmap. As you can see, we are a mature project already.

VAIOT's ultimate goal and flagship solution is the AI Legal Assistant, which enables users to negotiate deals with the support of an AI Assistant and create contracts to back up those deals and services, both traditional contracts to be signed in paper or through digital signature and their smart contract representation on the blockchain. It also has a wider set of use cases I'd love to discuss further.

Q: You said this project is EU-regulated under Malta's VFA Act. Considering this, can you tell us a bit about the VFA regulation? What does being the first regulated project in Malta entail on VAIOT?

Pawel: Malta was a leading force for crypto regulations in the European Union. In 2019, they were the first in Europe to introduce a well-built, comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto assets regulation. This framework sets standards, institutions, and strict requirements for companies who want to issue digital assets (utility tokens, etc.).

For a regulated under this framework, it means that before you get regulated, you have to go through an in-depth vetting process with a VFA Agent selected from the group of companies authorized by the Maltese Financial Services Authority (MFSA). VFA Agent is your supervising party and a proxy between you and the MFSA. We've selected Grant Thorton as our VFA Agent because it is one of the greatest consulting firms in the world.

We had to undergo an in-depth due diligence process for all the parties and people involved in VAIOT. Our Whitepaper had to be created following regulatory standards. We had to hire a consulting company to help us create a professional business plan for the company, including the traditional revenue sources and forecasts, etc.

We must go through a security audit, smart contract code audit, financial audit, and AML/CFT Compliance audit annually. We then had to do the regulated Virtual Financial Assets offering (public sale) according to regulatory guidelines, which were also audited. To this day, we have to report on every important event or project change to the authorities and Grant Thornton for them to keep an eye on everything we're doing. There are many controls in place with this regulation that ensure that VAIOT holders are safe.

Q: Where the project is in development, and what milestones and events are coming up?

Pawel: 2023, in general, is an exciting and packed-up year for us in terms of development and product launches. On the other hand 2024 is starting to look even more challenging with real-life product implementations. This year so far, we've integrated Microsoft CLU and OpenAI's GPT4 into our AI Legal Assistant.

We've launched our private chain on Polygon – also integrated with our AI Legal Assistant for storing contractual (confidential) data. Our key token utilities will also be available on Polygon. We've also launched the Legal Research, Compliance, and Contractual Design project with Grant Thornton – for our AI Legal Assistant.

We've also delivered solutions, like our Contractual Blockchain Intelligence and Contract Reader application. We recently integrated zkSNARKS for contractual data privacy and certification – an awesome, real-life implementation of zero-knowledge proofs. In terms of what's coming – we'll launch our AI Legal Assistant v1 Q3/Q4 2023 – with a beta launch for our community members (as usual, with some exciting benefits to receive).

We'll also be integrating our VAI Payback utility into said AI Legal Assistant, which will be put on public display in the v2 of the Legal Assistant Q4 2023/Q1 2024; we're also working on the first implementation project in one of the EU countries for our AI Legal Assistant engine to be used as a Public Administration/Citizen Services tool for citizens.

Then 2024 is purely product launches (further versions of AI Legal Assistant) and integrations/implementations with institutional and private partners in the EU. Again, I encourage you to look at our roadmap. Follow our socials for ongoing product updates and information on community testing campaigns!

Q: Tell us some more of its real-life use cases and functionalities?

Pawel: Well, first of all, VAIOT's AI Legal Assistant is a solution providing various legal and formal services to the end-user. It's built on the assumption that not everyone can afford lawyers, and legal services can be automated and served faster without going to a local firm. So our AI Assistant provides 24/7/365 accessibility via mobile or home devices and extremely low costs compared to traditional legal services.

Now what is important is that It's available for consumers, businesses, and citizens, and the use cases vary slightly for those different user groups. I strongly recommend that you read this article on the use cases; and also hear our upcoming 3-video series on the AI Legal Assistant use-cases on our YouTube (coming soon).

In general, to give you a brief overview, the key use cases are AI-driven: contract/legal/formal doc analysis, legal/public services research, legal/formal document creation, and AI-based corporate services such us (KYC/DD, business creation, compliance, corporate changes, and fillings). In addition, our goal is to implement the AI Legal Assistant engine to automate public administration/citizen services in EU countries first – to help citizens deal with administrative and formal processes such as immigration applications, dealings with tax authorities, etc.

But I could talk about this for hours. Please read the article and see me talking about this on youtube coming up this week.

Q: You've mentioned the integration with zkSnarks. Tell us how VAIOT uses zkSnarks in its solutions.

Pawel:The cool thing about it is that with zk-SNARKs, we can provide a whole new layer of privacy and security for our users. You can prove the authenticity of specific parts of your contract to a third party without revealing the whole thing.

This is a powerful tool for privacy and confidentiality that hasn't been seen before in this way. It opens up a world of possibilities for use cases where sensitive information needs to be verified but not disclosed. And we often have to prove our source of income or other confidential data to different institutions.

Moreover, as a GDPR-compliant project, VAIOT must legally maintain high data protection. zk-SNARKs is a part of this commitment to protect our users' data. It's not just about compliance, though. We genuinely believe in privacy's value and are always looking for innovative ways to improve it. One of the key rules in our product development is privacy by design.

Q: What proprietary and third party technologies are you using in VAIOT?

Pawel: For our AI Legal Assistant, in addition to our Machine Learning algorithms (which are magic behind the whole thing), we integrate GPT4 from Open AI, CLU from Microsoft, and some of Google's AI features, and recently, as mentioned, we've integrated zkSnarks for privacy protection. We are also utilizing blockchain features offered by the Polygon network – we're using both the private blockchain built on top of Polygon's Edge and the integration with Polygon's mainnet for our token utilities.

Q: What are the utilities of $VAI, how to get it, etc?

Pawel: VAI Token has been a well-established digital asset/utility token since 2021. Again it is the first VFAA-regulated token. Various sources often mention us as one of the top #AI projects in the space, and now we've become part of the #ZeroKnowledgeProofs ecosystem as well. The token itself is listed on a couple of centralized and decentralized exchanges, but KuCoin was the first one to list VAI in 2021 - our longest-lasting relationship with an exchange.

Incentivize Users: Regarding token utility, VAIOT's main goal was always to utilize VAI Token to incentivize users to use our AI Legal Assistant. Hence the main utility was always the Payback Bonus mechanisms in VAI which allow users to regain a part of the money spent in FIAT or other cryptocurrencies in VAI Token, which the company buys back from the open market. On the other hand, the VAI token holders receive various price benefits for using the AI Legal Assistant.

Staking Services: We also offer some staking services on CEXs and through our stake.vaiot.ai portal. In the future, we plan to implement a DAO-like dispute-resolving system, which, at the very foundation, will have VAI token-holders acting as judges in the dispute resolution for contracts and deals created through our AI Legal Assistant, for which zkSnarks will play a huge role to make sure we only REAL people having the ability to vote (excluding fake accounts, etc.).

Micro-licensing Mechanisms: We're also considering micro-licensing mechanisms where users can create custom legal document templates and license them to other users for a fee in VAI – a P2P marketplace of legal templates. Also, for our stakeholders, we'll have premium features within the AI Legal Assistant ecosystem, including extended access to legal support, etc.

Q: What are the benefits of holding $VAI token as a long-term investment? Can you tell us the motivation and benefits for investors to keep your token in the long run?

Pawel: As we are here on KuCoin, this is an important question for most investors. As you all know, there are macro and micro economic reasons to hold VAI. First of all, #AI solutions and #AI projects in the crypto same are and will be growing due to the importance of #AI in general in the current business environment worldwide. The sentiment is clear.

What differentiates VAIOT (VAI) from other projects in the space is that we have not only issued a digital asset (VAI Token). This asset is regulated in the EU -> hence if any EU-wide/global regulations come in, we are already there where the other crypto companies will have to make a lot of effort to comply, but the other thing is that we are an actual company with an actual business plan for real-life implementations.

VAIOT will introduce its AI Legal Assistant (with a new version of the app every quarter) to a wide audience of consumers and businesses directly, country by country. You'll hear about that in global media. VAIOT is also negotiating government contracts to implement the AI Assistant engine to automate legal and citizen services in different countries; again, country by country, starting in the EU, but you'll hear about that. We have lots in stock and rely on something other than the crypto market situation to thrive and deliver.

Q: What strategy will you implement to bring non-crypto-natives into your ecosystem? How do you keep a balance between developing the technology and also improving the value of VAI token?

Pawel: As mentioned, VAIOT was created having a product for non-crypto-natives in mind. We've created a real-life business plan with Grant Thornton to have clients and revenue streams. AI Legal Assistant is a solution for non-crypto-natives and crypto-natives as it offers real-life legal/formal/administrative services (you don't have to know what Bitcoin or VAI Tokens are to use and purchase our services and solutions).

Still, it also offers many additional blockchain-related features that crypto-natives can enjoy. In addition, we'll bring non-crypto-natives to crypto and the VAI Tokens as they will receive VAIs as payback when they are paying FIAT for our services - hence we'll convert clients into holders!

Q: What is your strongest advantage that will make your team lead the market?

Pawel: In terms of the crypto market, we are:

1. Regulated.
2. Self-sufficient (real-life revenue streams from product sales).
3. We are an AI token/solution with real-life utility.
4. Our successes will be widely recognizable because our users will be from the crypto space and primarily from regular businesses.
5. We have the potential to implement and integrate with traditional market clients and partners, which we all know is a great factor in leading tokens' way forward.

On the other hand, in terms of traditional business: we are one of a kind. VAIOT occupies a niche in the AI automation market, which is the legal and formal services automation and delivery; the legal services market is huge, and we need to take a chunk of it to be extremely successful, and we still have the first movers advantage, at least in Europe.

Q: Can you tell us about your team members? Are they qualified and professional in their fields? What are the recruiting qualifications for team members for your extraordinary project?

Pawel: You can see the list of our team members on our website. However, not everyone is listed due to security reasons (we're very cautious of social engineering attacks on our staff); We have people qualified in different fields: blockchain development and architecture setups, backend and frontend developers with a high degree of seniority, have business professionals, sometimes over 20 years of professional experience working for big European and global brands.

The strong part of our team is that its core is built purely by people who built startups and companies in traditional markets; that is well experienced with managing big structures that are oriented at producing revenue to keep the business developing; our management team consists of a well-experienced professional who led different projects for global financial institutions, tech development companies, or even served in special forces in the area of cybersecurity.

Q: How did you get the community involved in developing the project? And how do you build a strong community to grow globally?

Pawel: We often organize community-based beta testing campaigns (with proper remuneration/incentives) to make sure that we a) get lots of external testers to find bugs and potential issues (stress tests etc.), b) we get community feedback and ideas that we can implement to make the product better. We've already had a couple of features implemented based on community development suggestions received in earlier rounds. This year, a testing campaign for the AI Legal Assistant is coming in Q3/Q4. Make sure to participate and help us grow!

🎁 Participate in the VAIOT AMA quiz now for a chance to win 132 VAI!

The form will remain open for five days from publishing this AMA recap.

KuCoin and VAIOT have prepared a total of 26,400 VAI to give away to AMA participants.

1. Pre-AMA activity: 13,200 VAI

2. Free-ask section: 660 VAI

3. Flash mini-game: 5,280 VAI

4. Post-AMA quiz: 7,260 VAI

. . .

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