NEAR Protocol introduces a new AI assistant called Near AI in partnership with Infinex

NEAR Protocol has introduced a new AI assistant called NEAR AI in partnership with Infinex. This AI assistant aims to enhance user experience and provide advanced functionalities.

The new AI assistant is a crosschain AI assistant that can launch memecoins in seconds and search the web to buy products for fiat. The assistant, launched at the Redacted conference in Bangkok, is part of NEAR's ambitious plan to build the world's largest open-source AI model.

The NEAR Foundation made a groundbreaking debut at [REDACTED] in Bangkok, unveiling its cutting-edge NEAR AI Assistant in alpha and announcing a strategic partnership with Infinex.

These developments aim to integrate artificial intelligence and blockchain, enhancing cross-chain accessibility and user experience across Web2 and Web3.

https://docs.near.org/build/web3-apps/ai/ai-assistant

This AI agent can:

• Explore and explain what happened in a transaction when given a transaction hash
• Request tokens from the testnet faucet
• Mint and send a special NFT though a wallet it controls to a user
• Answer general questions about the NEAR architecture (realtime search results)

NEAR AI Assistant: User-Centric and Privacy-Focused

The alpha release of the NEAR AI Assistant introduces innovative features designed to empower users while safeguarding privacy. Highlights of the AI tool include:

• Personalized AI Engagement: The assistant work with tasks relating blockchain transactions, e-commerce, and data analysis.
• Cross-Platform Functionality: It bridges Web2 and Web3, acting autonomously to simplify complex operations, such as creating custom frontends or facilitating blockchain interactions.
• Community Research Incentives: The accompanying NEAR AI Research Hub invites developers to monetize AI research and build foundational AI models with NEAR’s support.

NEAR plans to enhance AI development security by integrating Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and GPUs into its core protocol, enabling secure model training, inference, and monetization.

NEAR Intents: Seamlessly Linking AI and Blockchain

NEAR Intents, a new transaction type introduced at [REDACTED], enable seamless interactions between AI agents and blockchain systems. This chain abstraction technology simplifies asset swaps and transactions between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and other major networks, empowering AI agents to execute tasks autonomously and securely.

Infinex Partnership Expands Cross-Chain Horizons

The NEAR Foundation has partnered with Infinex, a decentralized exchange platform developed by Synthetix. This collaboration leverages NEAR Chain Signatures to streamline cross-chain transactions, eliminating the need for users to manage native gas tokens for individual blockchains.

• Multichain Gas Relayer: Simplifies transactions across legacy chains like Bitcoin and Litecoin, allowing users to sign transactions from a single account without holding tokens native to other chains.
• Innovative Self-Custody Solutions: Infinex CTO Jed highlighted the partnership's potential to extend secure functionality to chains like Bitcoin while ensuring genuine self-custody.

Future Prospects: Open-Source AI and Web3 Integration

NEAR’s co-founder, Illia Polosukhin, demonstrated the AI Assistant’s capabilities live at [REDACTED], showing its ability to create a memecoin, launch websites, and facilitate online shopping. He emphasized NEAR's vision of user empowerment:

"We wanted to bring to users a technology that benefits them and helps them retain control over their data."

Polosukhin revealed plans to enable the assistant to book flights, order takeout, and integrate additional AI agents to expand its functionality, driving a new era of AI-agent coordination for Web3.

Event Highlights and Industry Implications

[REDACTED] in Bangkok, held during Thailand Blockchain Week, has drawn global innovators for a transformative convergence of AI and blockchain technologies. Demonstrations of NEAR Intents and their potential to unlock DeFi for Bitcoin and other chains have cemented NEAR’s position as a leader in AI-powered blockchain solutions.