it AND blockchain are complementary forms of technology which, as readers are aware, have gained astonishing momentum in recent years. In the past year alone, the former has found widespread application across the business landscape: According to a survey by UKG By the end of 2023, no less than 78% of executives reported that their companies were using artificial intelligence. Another 71% considered AI a medium to high priority for their businesses, and 62% felt they were not adopting such solutions fast enough.

Second, we have blockchain technology. As of 2018, 84% of C-suite members in a PwC survey claimed to have a blockchain initiative in the works, and the cryptocurrency's rapid growth in the intervening years has shed more light on its potential.

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The benefits of AI and blockchain working together

As these two concepts become more common, business leaders are increasingly recognizing their productive capacity to work together. In one the last presentation at the EY 2024 Global Blockchain Summit, for example, EY Global Chief Innovation Officer Jeff Wong addressed the synergistic opportunities of blockchain's ability to certify original ownership, especially as AI-generated content increases. He noted that technologies rarely create a breakthrough on their own: Usually, Wong said, they must merge with new or existing ones to enable higher utility and increased development.

Companies can use AI and blockchain together to change business processes and influence digital transactions – among the benefits are a further reduction in costs and a transformation of consumer experiences in consuming online content and in other interactions digital.

The question is, what can all of this translate into day-to-day business operations?

Here are some possibilities:

1. AI-driven predictive analytics

Artificial intelligence's ability to look at past data and use it to predict future outcomes has gained impressive utility recently. However, this utility is reduced if past data is unreliable. Blockchain reinforces the predictions of AI-driven analytics by ensuring that the data used in each algorithm is accurate, intact and transparent.

Companies can use blockchain to create a level of integrity and trust that is not possible in a less secure data set for AI models.

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2. Improved data security and ability

Blockchain's ability to improve data reliability is unmatched. It publicly tracks all iterations of a piece of data, recording transactions in a decentralized and tamper-proof manner.

This significantly improves data quality, but does not increase utility. That's where AI comes in: It can execute increasingly sophisticated actions, including creation and generation. But here once again, qUALITY of data lies at the heart of the reliability of any LLM (large language models) – something that blockchain naturally raises.

Blockchain technology can create data that powers cleaner and more accurate AI results.

3. Sophisticated smart contracts

Contracts make the business world go round, but they can also hold things back when not handled efficiently. Blockchain makes it possible to store self-executing smart contracts on the chain when certain conditions are met. This reduces errors, eliminates the need for intermediaries and lowers costs.

AI takes the basic but vital acceleration of blockchain contract execution and increases the complexity. LLM models and neural networks that power AI algorithms introduce a higher degree of adaptation to the smart contract model. This gives them a dynamic decision-making quality that uses real-time data for power adjustments.

Businesses can use AI to improve smart contract capabilities and reduce workloads.

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Investing in synergy

Technology is always advancing, but rare are the moments when multiple complementary technologies overlap in powerful ways. The intersection of blockchain reliability and AI capability can lead to an explosion in business efficiency and dynamism. The question is, are you and your company ready to explore that new frontier?