Vana's Anna Kazlauskas Predicts 100 Million Users to Embrace Data Ownership in AI by 2025

Anna Kazlauskas, co-founder of Vana and CEO of Open Data Labs, emphasizes the significance of data ownership in the age of AI. She highlights that individuals generate vast amounts of data daily, from health app metrics to social media posts, which are highly valuable to AI companies. However, monetizing personal data is challenging for individuals due to lack of leverage. Kazlauskas believes that data is a fundamental resource powering the next generation of AI and the digital economy, and that individuals own their data but often do not realize it.

Vana aims to create an ecosystem for user-owned data, which in turn fuels user-owned AI. This ecosystem includes Data DAOs, decentralized data marketplaces, the VRC-20 token, and a collaboration with Flower Labs to build the world’s first user-owned foundational model. Kazlauskas predicts a significant shift in data ownership awareness, with over 100 million users onboard in a few years and potentially the entire world population in a decade.

Kazlauskas explains that most people assume data is owned by the platforms it resides on, but legally, users are the owners. She stresses the importance of restoring data ownership for both users and developers. For developers, accessing the right data is crucial, but it is often locked within big tech’s walled gardens. Data DAOs act as labor unions for data, allowing individuals to pool their data and make collective decisions, making it more valuable for training AI models.

Kazlauskas is particularly excited about Data DAOs in the health space, which include full exports of patient medical records and biometric data. She also mentions the Driver Loyalty Program Labs, which is building car data, including valuable Tesla data. Vana’s collaboration with Flower Labs aims to build COLLECTIVE-1, the first user-owned foundation model. This model leverages federated training and Vana’s data, giving users end-ownership and control over the model’s use. The goal is to build AI that is not only ideologically decentralized but also performs better than centralized models by utilizing better data.

Kazlauskas will deliver a keynote at the AI Summit at Consensus 2025, outlining her vision for user-owned data and AI. She believes that the momentum is shifting towards greater awareness of data ownership and its importance in AI development. The collaboration with Flower Labs and the development of COLLECTIVE-1 represent a significant step towards decentralized AI, demonstrating that better data can lead to superior AI performance.