Exclusive Interview with Tyler, Co-Founder of Sahara AI: Driving Sustainable Incentives Through Real Use, Building an AI Collaboration Network

Author: Zen, PANews

As one of the most highly anticipated AI-native public chain projects of this year, Sahara AI has attracted considerable attention since its launch. From leading capital eager to invest, BuidlPad over-subscribing by 8.7 times, to listing on multiple top exchanges on the same day, and its performance on Korea's Upbit where its trading volume once surged to second place on the platform, only behind BTC and XRP, it is evident that the market has high expectations and recognition for it.

Sahara is not only an important representative in the AI × Web3 track but is also becoming a key coordinate in the narrative of the new generation of infrastructure. Therefore, in this exclusive interview, we specially invited Tyler, the co-founder of Sahara AI, to provide in-depth answers to the most concerned questions from the outside world.

AI×Web3 needs to be built on real demand.

PANews: Many people know that Sahara is a decentralized AI project backed by a top team, which has not only raised a total of $43 million in funding led by Polychain, Binance Labs, and Pantera Capital. The launch of the Sahara token has further gained support from major global exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Upbit. What do you think is the core reason for Sahara receiving so much recognition and support?

Tyler: I believe that Sahara has come this far not because of hype or capital, but because we have been based on a real structural demand from the very beginning.

We have been asking ourselves: If AI is a deterministic future, what should its infrastructure look like? Who will build it? Who will participate? Today, the vast majority of AI projects are still at the application layer, discussing how to bring AI to Web3, while Sahara aims to address deeper issues: Can Web3 become the entry point for participation and the mechanism for profit distribution in the AI era?

Sahara's answer is: Not only can we do it, but someone must do it.

The value distribution of AI cannot always be controlled by a few large model platforms. If AI in the future truly becomes a foundational infrastructure like the internet, then we need a more open, fair, and sustainable architecture. This is exactly what Sahara aims to do: to address a structural issue that we believe will eventually need to be resolved.

We are not "doing some AI on Web3", but rather building a comprehensive operational platform designed for AI from the ground up. Utilizing a blockchain-level architecture to support the rights confirmation, invocation, and revenue sharing of AI, we transform a system that previously could only operate in a closed manner relying on large model platforms into a new network where everyone can participate, co-build, and share.

This is why we can be the only AI Layer 1 project currently jointly launched on OKX, Binance, Upbit, and Bithumb. It's not because we are riding the trend, but because we are truly doing difficult yet correct things in the dimension of infrastructure.

PANews: There are also quite a few AI-related projects in the market. How does Sahara's positioning and path selection differ from them? In your opinion, what are Sahara's biggest highlights or core competitive advantages in the Web3 AI space?

Tyler: Many projects now treat Web3 as a funding channel and AI as a marketing highlight, but that was not our starting point. What we truly care about is: AI is becoming a new technological paradigm, so why should Web3 be involved in this?

How does Web3 support the development of AI? I actually think that with the support of AI, Web3 truly has the opportunity to evolve into what it is supposed to be.

We invest a lot of effort in studying how AI operates: how models are trained, how data is utilized, and how value flows back to contributors. When we string these questions together, we discover a reality: today's Web3 still lacks a fundamental system that can truly support AI collaboration.

So we might as well start from scratch and design a complete asset lifecycle system of "Data → Model → Agent → Revenue". Each link can ensure rights, invoke, leave traces, and share profits, and all value flows can be clearly tracked and incentivized through on-chain logic.

This resembles a "universal operating system" where AI developers, contributors, and users can collaborate frequently based on it. Moreover, this system is not just a concept on an architecture diagram; we have natively embedded it into our own L1 blockchain, serving high-frequency calls and complex interactions in AI scenarios from the very beginning.

Let's take an analogy, Ethereum allows us to freely build a financial system, from wallets, DEX to governance protocols, everything can be done on-chain. Sahara is the same, except we are not serving financial assets, but instead moving the entire AI supply chain onto the chain to operate. Our positioning is very clear: to become the Web3 infrastructure of the AI era. This is Sahara's positioning, and it is also what we believe to be our core positioning in this track.

Daily active users exceed 1.4 million, AI collaboration is not just talk

PANews: The performance of the SIWA testnet has been impressive, with the number of accounts exceeding 3.2 million, and there have been significant improvements in data annotation, task completion rates, and accuracy. What is your view on the value of these phased achievements for Sahara's construction of a decentralized AI infrastructure?

Tyler: SIWA is not just a "test network" for us; it is actually a systematic validation: can the entire on-chain AI collaboration model we designed actually run? The result is that it can, and it exceeds our expectations.

Currently, SIWA has over 3.2 million wallets and 1.4 million daily active users. What excites us the most is that these users are real people doing things on the platform—like over 200,000 community data contributors, who complete annotations, validations, and interactions on-chain, and millions waiting for the whitelist. It gives me a glimpse of the prototype of this AI resource collaboration network.

This matter also verifies a core judgment: AI collaboration is not just talk, but a real demand that exists yet has never been well accommodated. The greatest value of Web3 lies in its ability to provide a new order for this multi-role, multi-round, high-frequency collaboration.

If SIWA is the first step in validating our collaborative capabilities on the blockchain, then the next step is the key node in truly making the entire AI value cycle "run through": we just launched the public beta of the AI Agent Builder and AI Marketplace at the end of June, one allowing everyone to create and publish AI Agents, and the other enabling these Agents to be truly called, authorized, and generate revenue.

This can be seen as the prototype of a decentralized AI App Store and economic system. The underlying infrastructure behind this is the entire chain-level architecture built by Sahara. In the future, we will also add capabilities such as profit sharing, on-chain task calls, and composite trading, making this entire system not only capable of running but also able to run for a long time.

For us, these achievements are not just "milestones of success", but the first strong proof of the feasibility of decentralized AI. We hope to enable everyone to participate in AI, contribute to AI, and derive real value from it. And Sahara is making this wish a reality.

PANews: Compared to other public chains, Sahara has a relatively large number of products, and its product market fit is also very good. Many people say that Sahara's three-layer architecture is a new way of playing for the "AI native chain." Can you talk to us about how this architecture helps the platform evolve step by step in terms of performance, governance, and ecology? If AI agents are widely deployed on the chain or applications explode in the future, where will its scalability be reflected?

Tyler: AI itself is a highly collaborative system that relies heavily on compositional development. It cannot just run like deploying a smart contract; it involves a whole set of complex operations such as data upload, model training, inference calling, and revenue tracking. Moreover, these operations require ensuring rights, protecting privacy, and facilitating multi-role collaboration, which places high demands on the underlying chain's performance, composability, and verifiability.

So we have established a three-tier architecture: the bottom layer is the "Infrastructure Layer", above that is the "Application Layer", and further up is the "Ecosystem Coordination Layer".

The infrastructure layer is our main chain, combined with TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) and on-chain contracts, to register and confirm rights for data, models, and Agents, while ensuring the privacy and security of the invocation process. You can think of it as a "trusted registry + operating system," addressing fundamental issues such as who owns AI assets, how they can be used, and how profits are shared.

The application layer is currently the fastest part we are advancing. AI Agent Builder, Data Service Platform, and AI Marketplace are all here. Developers can upload data, build models, train, and even directly combine others' components to create new features, as well as trade, use, and monetize in the market. We are very "pragmatic" in this part, hoping that developers can really create a running agent from 0 to 1 in a short time without having to fiddle with various tools.

The ecological coordination layer is the most futuristic part and is also the source of our network effect. It is not just technology, but also a connection mechanism. Web3 protocols, Web2 applications, computing power service providers, and AI content creators can all access Sahara through standard interfaces, each performing their roles and sharing the benefits, making it possible to create a self-driven AI collaborative economy. In simple terms, this layer is our way of "paving the road" for the ecosystem.

Now back to the question "Where is Sahara's scalability?" We believe that in the future, whether it's Web2 or Web3, with the explosion of AI applications, these assets will ultimately need a chain for registration, tracking, and settlement. The more applications there are and the more complex the combinations, the more valuable Sahara becomes. The purpose of designing this system has never been to support a single application, but to support an entire AI network to run. You can think of us as the "underlying operating system" of the AI world. Everyone can build, combine, and run models, and ultimately share the profits from it. Once this system starts running, it becomes faster and stronger the more it is used. Today, we are just getting started, but you can already see some phenomena: more and more AI developers, model platforms, and even traditional enterprises' data businesses are building their on-chain AI products through Sahara, truly forming a compounding effect.

What we are seeing is not short-term user growth, but rather the entire AI industry's dependence on the chain ten years from now. We want to lay a solid foundation for this.

Next, establish a truly "usable AI collaboration network"

PANews: In the next 3 to 6 months, everyone is very concerned about what new products or collaborations Sahara will have, allowing the outside world to see its key progress on the path of decentralized AI. Can you share some highlights worth looking forward to in advance?

Tyler: The rhythm for the next few months is very clear: products, partnerships, mainnet, step by step to get this system running, and truly establish a "usable AI collaboration network."

Let me introduce the two core modules that we launched at the end of June: AI Agent Builder and AI Marketplace. These allow users to build an Agent without writing code, simply by dragging components, adjusting models, and launching the Agent—all in one complete on-chain process. You also don't need to jump to GitHub or Hugging Face to download anything; we have modularly integrated the datasets and open-source models. It can be said that now anyone who wants to create an AI application can do so directly by opening Sahara.

This is a start. In July, what we need to do is to get this system "up and running." The most important thing is to launch the monetization mechanism: model invocation, API authorization, revenue sharing, and License NFT will all be opened this month. This will allow users to use AI assets to generate income through interaction. This is also the step that many early AI investors are most concerned about: how models and data can be turned into assets and how they can circulate within the ecosystem.

At the same time, we will also open the data service platform (DSP) from whitelist mode to a full public beta, allowing everyone to participate. This also means that starting from this stage, everyone can build and benefit on Sahara.

Our mainnet will be launched in autumn, and at that time, the entire economic system will officially be closed-loop. The blockchain will record all behaviors such as asset registration, model invocation, revenue distribution, and user interaction. Meanwhile, $SAHARA will also be officially "activated" in this process, serving as the core asset used for invoking AI assets, paying fees, receiving passive revenue sharing from authorization, and participating in platform governance.

In addition to our products, we will also gradually announce some ecological collaborations, including opening APIs to more AI tools, linking entry points to tool platforms, achieving model circulation, and bringing in more enterprise-level partners to participate in data and model collaboration. One can imagine that Sahara is no longer just a technology platform, but a continuously emerging new type of AI collaboration ecosystem.

We are expanding Sahara from a "chain + platform" into a truly large system that can support the AI development ecosystem. In the future, you will see more roles finding their place in this system: developers, data annotators, model authors, platform integrators, AI users. We are building a collaborative structure and revenue loop for these individuals.

PANews: Sahara has always emphasized data rights confirmation and data assetization. How will the value of on-chain data be truly released in the future? Will it become the key leverage for Sahara's commercialization? Additionally, in the face of many similar projects in the market that focus on AI data rights confirmation, where do you think Sahara's core competitiveness lies?

Tyler: We believe that data should not be a consumable that is "used once" but rather an asset that continuously generates value. Just like real estate can be rented out and works can be licensed, data can also be repeatedly accessed, combined, and used to train new models or agents.

The problem we want to solve is: data cannot just be "authenticated"; it must also be "utilized and continuously monetized." A dataset uploaded by users should not be discarded after use, but rather can be continually called upon, involved in training, synthesized for new purposes, and even combined by other developers. If all these actions run on the blockchain, it can completely record the usage path of the data, allowing for automatic distribution of earnings. This is not just authentication, but rather the creation of a truly fluid "data economy."

The data service platform (DSP) we designed is the entry point of this system. It not only allows you to participate in tasks and earn rewards, but more importantly, it turns your data into a truly traceable, reusable, and authorized on-chain asset. Our native chain + call layer logic also ensures that the usage trajectory of this data can be completely preserved.

So what is different about us compared to other data rights verification projects? I would say they only focus on "ownership rights," while we focus on "usage rights" and "monetization pathways." Their goal is to clarify "who owns this," while our goal is "how to make this valuable and keep it valuable."

This is also where we believe the greatest commercial potential can be unleashed. For enterprise users, you no longer need to search for data across five platforms and seven tools; we provide a one-stop solution for connection, pricing, and authorization. For individual users, data is no longer just something to be "consumed"; it can continuously generate income for you. Once this system is up and running, it will become the most stable growth flywheel for our entire ecosystem.

So I often say that data is not the "entry point" for Sahara, but rather the foundation of our business model. It is the underlying logic that allows us to sustain the AI ecosystem in the long term, and it is also one of the core competitive advantages that sets us apart from other Web3 AI projects.

Sustainable incentives: Let "real usage" drive the value cycle

PANews: The biggest question in the market regarding incentive mechanisms is the economic design of sustainable positive incentives after a project's TGE. In your opinion, how is Sahara designed in terms of its economic system and incentive mechanisms to ensure its long-term viability and truly create a win-win situation for both users and the project?

Tyler: This issue can be said to be an unavoidable challenge for all Web3 projects. Initially relying on subsidies to attract users, once the hype fades, everyone leaves. Sahara's approach is actually quite simple: not to create artificial prosperity, but to return to the essence of "real usage". The starting point of our design for the incentive mechanism is to think about a question: if no one uses this system, it naturally won't have value; but as long as it is continuously used, there must be someone who benefits from it.

So we allow incentives to come from usage and to be distributed based on contributions. Our user roles are diverse: ordinary users, data contributors, Agent builders, enterprises, model developers... Each type of person can find their place in the ecosystem, where they can not only use it but also benefit from it.

Like general users, you can actually participate directly in data annotation tasks, experience AI agents, and create community content. This is not a method of inflating rankings to subsidize traffic, but rather a genuine contribution of data, user feedback, and content to the platform. As long as your actions are valuable, they will be recorded by the system and generate benefits.

On the developer side, we provide a complete set of tools. Users can upload models, deploy them, set revenue sharing, and then authorize others to use them in the Marketplace to earn a share. Additionally, the content you upload can also be reused by others, generating more compound benefits. Furthermore, there are enterprise users and computing power providers, who are more B-side roles, and they can also find their own business opportunities.

What's particularly special is that a person can play multiple roles at the same time. You can be both a data contributor and a deployer of AI assets, and even recommend other users to use your model. The more you do, the richer the roles, and the more diverse the rewards. This "composite identity" reward structure is what we particularly emphasize in our sustainable design.

Ultimately, what we want to achieve is: to automatically trigger value returns for every real occurrence of calls, transactions, and collaborations. As long as the system is in use, incentives can circulate. This logic does not rely on subsidies to maintain heat, but rather drives through a positive cycle within the ecosystem. We believe this is currently the most feasible and healthiest direction for the integration of Web3 and AI.

PANews: In your opinion, what will be the relationship between AI Layer 1 and traditional public chains in terms of their ecological niches in the future? Is Sahara filling a gap, reconstructing, or opening up a new track?

Tyler: We believe that AI Layer1 and traditional public chains are not in a zero-sum relationship, but rather a co-evolution where each undertakes different system tasks. Traditional public chains excel at handling financial transactions, DeFi, NFTs, and other general assets, while AI Layer1 was born to meet another clear and foreseeable huge demand scenario: the authentication, incentivization, trading, and collaboration of AI assets.

The asset forms and operating methods of AI are completely different from traditional crypto assets: it not only includes non-static assets such as data, models, and agents, but also a large amount of invocation records, behavior logs, and collaborative logic generated during runtime. This information must rely on a clearly structured, trustworthy, and sustainably incentivized native blockchain environment to be hosted. We are not trying to "compete" with traditional public chains, but rather actively building a platform that enables organic collaboration among data contributors, model developers, agent builders, computing power providers, and end users in a situation where the existing system struggles to support AI collaborative demands.

Of course, the complexity of this system is also extremely high, far more complicated than existing public chains: it must ensure data privacy while achieving verifiability; it must support complex interactive logic while ensuring execution efficiency; it must also provide a clear profit-sharing and rights confirmation path for each participant. These are all highly challenging, but we believe that this is worth doing and that someone must take on this task.

So in a sense, Sahara is neither a "filler" nor merely a "reconstruction", but is promoting a new system paradigm: AI-native blockchain. It is not an extension of a particular track, but rather opens up the infrastructure for a brand new collaborative network. We hope this network is open, co-built, cross-chain, and accessible to everyone, creating a continuous positive cycle.

PANews: As a leading project in the Web3AI space, how do you view the overall development direction of the AI sector? What do you think are the biggest opportunities and challenges in the future?

Tyler: AI is rapidly evolving from a specialized tool to a part of everyone's daily life. Just like the internet and smartphones once became indispensable infrastructure for everyone, we believe that in the future, everyone will have their own AI model or agent to assist with daily tasks, becoming a necessary tool in our lives. This is the trend we are most optimistic about.

However, to truly realize this vision, three key issues need to be addressed: first, how to enable individuals to control and deploy AI; second, how to ensure privacy and transparency in data and interaction processes; third, how to build a fair, open, and sustainable economic system.

These three points are exactly the direction that Sahara is focusing on solving. We are not just creating a toolbox, but building a future-oriented operating system that empowers all users, developers, researchers, and enterprises to create, use, and benefit from AI. We believe that the greatest opportunity of Web3 + AI lies in the new way of value creation it brings: an open collaboration, an AI network that everyone can participate in.

The role of Sahara can be better understood through three metaphors:

1. We are the "AWS of decentralized AI," providing underlying computing power, storage, calls, and incentive systems to support the infrastructure of the entire Web3 AI world;
2. We are like the "Tesla of the AI world," redefining the production, operation, and collaboration of AI assets with transparent, verifiable, and tradable mechanisms;
3. We are also the "App Store for AI Agents," allowing developers to quickly publish and users to freely invoke, building an ecosystem with strong distribution capabilities and business models.

The biggest challenge comes from the complexity of this system: we need to ensure the stability and security of the system while making it truly user-friendly and participatory. It must be able to support millions of users and applications to genuinely become the starting point for the integration of AI and Web3. We believe that this direction is worth long-term investment and development. And Sahara is taking that first step.