The OpenMined project has the vision and the tools to revolutionize the way we collect, protect and secure your personal data and use that for Artificial Intelligence.

The open source project “OpenMined” was called to life by Andrew Trask and has the goal to encrypt and decentralize artificial intelligence by using the blockchain.

Purpose

Ask yourself the question: Do you feel like you are in control of your personal data? If you think so, great! But it is probably not true.

By using services provided by companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, you agree to share your personal data with them by blindly accepting their Terms of Service. Even most apps on your phone have a clause in the Terms of Service to be able to use your data.

Opting out of that is often difficult and confusing since the companies don’t want to lose your data. They need this data to create user profiles and advance the quality of their artificial intelligence. They own your data, even if they only want to use it for their neural network training.

So where am I going with this? There isn’t really a way to stop these companies using your data as long as you use their services. But at least you could make some money out of it, right?

OpenMined uses your data to train encrypted neural networks for companies, that otherwise wouldn’t be able to get that kind and amount of data. The best part: Your data won’t ever leave your device —only the training results will. The company can train their neural networks, without having you lose control over your data. Depending on how much your data helps the training of the network, the more you’ll get paid.

Companies

While big tech company secured a nearly endless stream of private and personal data with their shady Terms of Service documents, smaller companies often face a lack of high-quality data.

On the other side, you probably don’t want any company to own your data. That’s why the training happens on your device. Only the training results get shared.

That way, the small companies can get their models trained and you don’t have to worry about anyone selling your data to third parties.

Contributing

OpenMined is open source, which not only means that it is free, but it also means you can actively help to make the vision reality.

Contributors come from all over the world and work on Development, Research, but also on Design, Marketing and more. No matter what your skills are, you are welcome!

Simply sign up for Slack by using this link and get involved. You should actually get a message as soon as you join us —from me! I will help you to find a project that matches your skills and interests.

Don’t be shy! We are very beginner friendly.

Additional Material

If you want to learn more about OpenMined, look at these additional videos on the topic:

Andrew Trask talked about OpenMined at AI Decentralized.

Andrew Trask at AI Decentralized

Youtuber Siraj Raval did an introduction to OpenMined.

Siraj Raval on OpenMined

I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of OpenMined. We hope you are as much excited about this as we are! If you want to get involved, it might be worth checking out our website and join Slack.