With the launch of the Cortex MainNet at the end of June, the Cortex team has enabled the execution of AI smart contracts on the blockchain. For the first time, AI models can be realistically executed on the blockchain in a decentralized, transparent and secure way. In addition to enabling on-chain AI inference, the Cortex infrastructure also encourages machine learning developers to upload their models to the blockchain for all kind of DApp utilities, aiming to create a decentralized open-sourced AI ecosystem.

To connect AI smart contracts to real-world data, a trustworthy middleware (an oracle) is needed. Using centralized oracles provides a single point of failure and defeats the purpose of running smart contracts on the blockchain; therefore, Cortex has chosen to integrate Chainlink, a highly reliable decentralized oracle network to guarantee the integrity of input data used in the execution of smart contracts as well as the outbound execution results on Cortex. With Chainlink, Cortex can make its trustless AI inferencing ability available to a wide variety of chains and unlock access to a lot more data.

Cortex deeply values the integrity, security, and decentralization of smart contracts, already striving to ensure them by utilizing an ASIC-resistant PoW algorithm. The integration with Chainlink further expands this integrity to the entire smart contract execution process, covering the security of inbound external data and outbound results.

AI smart contracts on Cortex can now pull in trusted real-world data and use them in the execution of on-chain AI inference. As an example in DeFi, if we want to create an on-chain Robo-advisor AI that makes investment for you based on the market data of BTC, we can now trust that the whole process is securely decentralized, as the program pulls in market data from an external API via Chainlink, uses that data for executing the AI smart contract on Cortex, and outputs the inference results to your bank service again via Chainlink.

Hence, the integration of Chainlink is an important first step in building the infrastructure for a decentralized open-sourced AI ecosystem on Cortex. As each day goes by, the integrity and security of AI smart contracts keep enhancing with developers building on top of the Cortex ecosystem.

“Cortex aims to create an open-sourced AI ecosystem that needs a broad source of data and a large crowd of audience. Chainlink can greatly help Cortex on both fronts. Further into the future, Cortex may help in optimizing Chainlink’s consensus and routing via on-chain inference,” says the CTO of Cortex Labs Tian Jia.

About Cortex

Cortex is a public blockchain that supports Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to be uploaded and executed on the distributed network. Cortex provides an open-source AI platform to achieve AI democratization where models can be integrated into smart contracts and create AI-enable decentralized applications (AI DApps).

Follow Cortex on Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, & Reddit for project updates and announcements. Visit GitHub & Forum for technical documentation and discussion.

About Chainlink

Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that enables smart contracts to securely access off-chain data feeds, web APIs, and traditional bank payments. Chainlink is well known for providing highly secure and reliable oracles to large enterprises (Google and SWIFT) and leading smart contract development teams. Learn more by visiting the Chainlink website, Twitter, or Telegram. If you’re a developer, visit the developer documentation or join the technical discussion on Discord.