In our debut episode of The People’s AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast, Presented by Vana , we dive into one of the most critical questions of the AI era: Who should own AI? As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, its ownership and governance will shape the future. Big Tech dominates AI development today, but a growing movement believes AI should be decentralized, open, and user-owned. We speak with Anna Kazlauskas, co-founder of Vana , and Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR , to explore how decentralized AI could shift power away from centralized corporations and into the hands of individuals. Key Topics Covered: • What decentralized AI means and why it matters • How AI models are built and trained—and who controls them • The intersection of AI, data sovereignty, and blockchain • The potential risks of centralized AI, from bias to economic concentration • How AI assistants, autonomous agents, and data unions are reshaping the internet • Predictions for the next 1-5 years in AI and decentralized technologies Timestamps: [00:00] Introduction: What is “The People’s AI”? [03:15] Why AI ownership is one of the defining issues of our time [07:24] The risks of centralized AI: control, censorship, and bias [12:05] How decentralized AI provides a solution [18:19] AI agents, peer-to-peer systems, and the future of automation [27:40] Defining the core categories of decentralized AI [39:41] The origin stories of Vana and NEAR [47:57] Predictions: What the next five years of AI could look like [51:21] Closing thoughts: Where is this movement headed? Join us as we navigate the complex but vital conversation about the future of AI. About Vana: Vana's vision is for user-owned AI through user owned-data. Its mission is to be the world's first open protocol for data sovereignty. Sign up for the first AI Data Summit, hosted by Vana, on Feb 28 in Denver. This will be the go-to event at Eth-Denver with leaders at the forefront of Decentralized AI tech and applications. AI Data Summit, hosted by Vana: https://lu.ma/aidatasummit More on Vana: https://linktr.ee/vanahq Vana on Twitter/X: https://x.com/vana Anna Kazlauskas on Twitter/X: https://x.com/anna_kazlauskas NEAR: The Blockchain for AI https://near.org/ NEAR on Twitter/X: https://x.com/NEARProtocol Illia Polosukhin on Twitter/X: https://x.com/ilblackdragon The People's AI on Twitter/X: https://x.com/The_Peoples_AI Subscribe to The People's AI on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnLiYlJulQIcmvCjnVRYotw Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://x.com/jeffwilser
