Effect.AI, an Amsterdam-based company founded in 2015, is developing a decentralized platform for artificial intelligence (AI) development and AI related services. The size and scope of the project is divided into three phases. Once the three phases are completed, AI developers and customers will have access to a decentralized AI marketplace and development platform called “The Effect Network.”

The team behind Effect.AI, who prior had worked at Itsavirus, has nearly a decade of experience developing complex technical solutions for large international corporations. Such examples include Heineken and Shell.

The three phases of The Effect Network will require no fees, will have a low barrier of entry, and provide fast growth to users.

The first phase of the project, Decentralized Mechanical Turk (M-Turk), will be a marketplace for AI developers and businesses to access a large workforce of human intelligence to train AI algorithms. When tasks are completed, the worker will be paid with NEP-5 token, EFX.

M-Turk will create a decentralized on-demand, scalable, and distributed workforce. Requesters will be able to load tasks, and determine rewards themselves. Using results from workers, the developer can train their AI algorithm. Workers can find interesting tasks and get paid in cryptocurrency. Tasks can include image classification, audio transcription, and data labeling.

The second phase, the AI Marketplace, will be a decentralized platform where people can buy and offer AI algorithm services. The marketplace/exchange is where AI developers, using a functional algorithm, can sell, rent, or give out services in exchange for EFX tokens. Each algorithm will have its own wallet, and will have the ability to communicate and collaborate with other algorithms.

Phase three, Decentralized AI, will provide a decentralized, distributed computational platform to run deep learning frameworks. The AI engine will be based on popular deep learning networks like Caffe, MXNet, and Tensor flow. The decentralized AI will distribute the computation power necessary to run the algorithms at a global scale through partnerships or by creating a custom Effect.AI framework.

In order to maintain liquidity, encourage adoption, and stabilize network fees in The Effect Network, a central pool has been created to serve as an internal-exchange of EFX and native tokens. The Galaxy Pool will consist of a mix of EFX and NEO, GAS, BTC, and LTC (native) tokens, which will be used to purchase services and pay users for their work. The Galaxy Pool will be where workers are able to sell their EFX tokens for native tokens, and requesters and network users will buy EFX tokens.

Several rules will direct the Galaxy Pool into an equilibrium balance, where supply and demand are balanced without external forces exerting an influence. These rules, which can later be refined through a governance process, exist where individuals can propose a change be made to the ecosystem, and the 51-member Effect Council votes on the proposal.

The Galaxy Pool is designed to remove speculative behaviors from the market that might hinder liquidity, or the ability for a requester to pay a user. Any coin purchased from the Galaxy Pool is known as a tainted coin. This tainted coin is washed (rather, converted to an EFX token) when it is spent through an Effect service contract from the tasks and service registry.

The EFX token will be a utility token that operates fully on smart contracts deployed on the NEO blockchain.

The public EFX token sale is planned for the end of March, ending 18 days after the launch. The hardcap for the sale will be €14.82 million, with a 10% discount for the first 5.2 million tokens sold. Ethereum and Bitcoin will be accepted cryptocurrencies for the sale. The maximum number of tokens generated will be 650,000,000, and 40% will be sold in the token sale.

Effect.AI will allocate tokens in the following manner:

– 40% (260,000,000) for the public token sale,

– 20% (130,000,000) for future funding [locked by a smart contract for 18-months],

– 16% (104,000,000) for platform incentives [galaxy pool],

– 15% (97,500,000) for the Effect.AI team,

– 7% (45,500,000) for partnerships and advisors, and

– 2$ (13,000,000) for bounties.

More information about Effect.AI can be found on their website, or on their Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Medium, LinkedIn, Bitcoin Talk, or Github accounts.