The team is celebrating the success of our second AMA this week with DeFi Raccoons. During the AMA, we had some laughs and answered some of the burning questions from community members. $200 in prizes were also given out. Congratulations to the winners!
Here is the transcript from today’s AMA:
BobbyLocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Ok, I think we’re all ready to go :D. Hello everybody, thank you for joining us today for another DeFi Raccoons AMA Session! Today, we’ll be talking with Daniel, Pawel, and Michal from VAIOT! VAIOT is working on a portfolio of blockchain-based AI assistants for businesses and consumers to provide automated services and transactions.
Visit their website https://www.vaiot.ai/
Here’s their Telegram: https://t.me/VAIOT_Community
And Twitter: https://twitter.com/VAIOT_LTD
Welcome Daniel, Pawel, and Michal, please tell Raccoons a bit about yourselves!
Pawel:
Hello there Raccoons! Happy to be here!
Daniel:
Hey everybody :) excited to be here! I am Marketing Manager at VAIOT. My background: Crypto degen since 2016.
Pawel:
I’m a COO at VAIOT and a project manager by training and experience. I’ve worked for big companies in Poland and in the UK, managing IT projects and teams in the areas of network infrastructure, app development, compliance, infosec, R&D, etc. I also managed an infosec department for one of the Polish IT companies. I worked for BNP Paribas, Atos, Royal Mail Group, Aviva, and a few more. One beautiful day when I was tired of living my corporate life, my former business partner asked me to join a new-forming startup called VAIOT and lead the operations and general project management. That’s how I got here.
Michal:
Hello everybody :) My name is Michael. I am the lead blockchain expert at VAIOT as well as the co-founder of the company :)
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha, extensive background you’ve got there Daniel.
Daniel:
Haha thank you :) You should see my CV
Pawel:
Haha, he’s a humble guy.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
..and Pawel, so you’re fresh out of corporate?
Pawel:
Not that fresh; Already at VAIOT since 2019 ;)
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
We like to kick things off with a little elevator pitch for the raccoons that might have not yet heard of VAIOT — tell us, what are you guys trying to build here?
Pawel:
First of all, VAIOT is delivering a portfolio of blockchain-based AI assistants around its 3 business/product lines, for both consumers and businesses, that are supported with a token economy. With our first AI sales and Customer Service Assistant being at beta stage, we already secured our first commercial client — a big retail shop network in Belgium that will use our assistant as a voice commerce solution; and the AI legal assistant delivering both traditional and blockchain-based contracts being our ultimate goal. You need to know that we are the first-ever regulated crypto project in Malta (VFAA Regulation). We prepared our PoC in cooperation with IBM, we partnered up with Grant Thorton, ORAICHAIN, PAID Network, CoinFirm, DAO Maker, and a few other companies that support our cause. We did our regulated token sale in cooperation with DAO Maker in a form of rSHO.
BobbyBlocker | DeFiRaccoons:
Ah, yes, I remember reading about a big partnership. @DeFiNaut was very excited, apparently, he shops there all the time.
Pawel:
Another satisfied customer!
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha. Can you tell us about the idea for VAIOT? What inspired you to make it happen? It’s certainly not your everyday idea. Haha
Michal:
Well, this, as you can imagine, is a long story. To be concise, everything started from the idea of having an AI lawyer as we all struggled with current legal services. Especially if we wanted to have relatively easy tasks done in a short period of time. High costs, lengthy cooperation process with different lawyers, and so on. We thought that AI is giving us so many possibilities and allows for so much automation, especially for easier activities, and it can analyze so much data from so many sources quickly to prepare bullet-proof outcomes that an AI lawyer is something that could actually work and help many people who cannot stand or afford currently offered traditional legal services. Then we thought about blockchain, what possibilities it offers, and how it can be used for legal purposes; that is how the ideas on intelligent contracts came to life. When we started designing VAIOT we wanted to have a model that could be easily adjusted and customized for many business purposes. This allowed us to create our gradual development plan in which we deliver the AI legal assistant in 3 phases, with each phase offering a ready-to-market product that we can use for generating revenue. We thought that we cannot build an AI legal assistant in one lengthy development process. That way, we can build a product portfolio we can offer to the market and still keep our eyes on the main prize.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
So, going for a continued release, smart, I like it.
God, you’re right there, we’re plagued by notaries here, every document needs to be notarized, such a simple task but throws all kinds of wrenches into spokes for every single business deal.
Michal:
Exactly. There are several possibilities to streamline those processes.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
So tell us about the people working on that plan. How many of you are currently working on VAIOT, what are their backgrounds, how many of those are devs, etc.?
Pawel:
So you want to get personal now. Ok I see ;)
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha.
Pawel:
We have some decent manpower here ;). The VAIOT team is multidisciplinary and it is composed of various individuals with experience in areas such as R&D, software development, blockchain and crypto, trading, marketing, strategic engagement, and so on. Members of the core team know each other very as we worked together before for different companies. Some of us have known each other for ten years already! We have people on board from different parts of the world: Austria, Poland, the US, Germany, UK, Russia, etc. For example, our CEO is a guy with significant seniority, being a CEO and managing director for many companies in Europe, he even managed SES-Astra CEE for a few years where he was sending satellites into space ;) We have 19 people on board right now + the advisors. 9 of those are developers, with our lead developer Jacob coordinating all the dev work.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Ah, so he’s experienced with space launches? That’s very important for a crypto CEO. Bonus points.
Daniel:
Haha it is ;) Elon Musk will take crypto to Mars and we are prepared for that.
Pawel:
Exactly ;) and we are growing rapidly and extending our team → so please follow us for job offers! We have some openings for the marketing team now and we are actively speaking for developers.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
When Elon tweet?
Michal:
It is inevitable…
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Jokes aside, sounds like you guys are running an efficient operation over there with a nice background cross-section, I like. So, let’s talk about the product itself. You say you’re building an AI legal assistant, but when we talk about, say, crypto regulation, it varies so widely from country to country, how is it possible to push all that into one AI?
Pawel:
Well, this is obviously a complex matter, let me try to explain how we approach this and how crypto regulations do not have that much of an impact for us. The concept of AI providing legal services is indeed a complex matter. You have to deal with many jurisdictions and regulations specific for such jurisdictions. That is why VAIOT’s AI legal assistant will be developed gradually tacking jurisdictions and legal use cases (e.g. contract use-cases) one at a time utilizing partner networks located in a given jurisdiction. As a proof of concept we already cooperate in that manner with Hance Law Advocates for Luxembourg which is small enough of a case to allow for a smooth proof of concept phase. When it comes to the shades of crypto regulation, and I understand you thought about how blockchain-based contracts can enter the traditional law areas in different jurisdictions across the world, again we will have to work with some boundaries set out by the governments across the world and we will be focusing, at least initially, on those countries who are open for digitization of law; but please remember that the VAIOT AI legal assistant will not only provide digital contracts and legal services in the crypto area — it will also provide traditional legal contracts that you can sign with another party and that are legally enforceable in a given jurisdiction or even across jurisdictions. In any other manner, crypto regulations are not of our concern as we solve traditional agreement/legal problems using the blockchain and supporting ourselves with the token economy, and as for crypto regulations, we already have enough experience with getting our own VFA status in Malta ;) and it wasn’t a walk in the park I can tell you that.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha, I can imagine. Sounds like a plan, tackling one use-case or jurisdiction at a time, working your way up to the most complex nuances. So, looking at your products, you list “Digital Service Distribution Channel” beside the AI lawyers. What can you tell us about that concept?
Pawel:
Sure. Digital Service Distribution Channel is our business line 1 — the one that we have already developed in beta stage and the one that you can test already. Plus as I mentioned we have our first client for this product already in Belgium. The implementation project for this client will communicate soon as we signed the contract last week. Regarding the product suite itself it is basically an AI assistant that we can easily adjust and customize for a given client and sector. We’ve initially designed it for the insurance industry but our first client will be using it for sales and customer service purposes as a voice commerce solution. The AI assistant can be offered with blockchain integration or without it, it depends on the client’s use case and specific requirements. Each client is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. For example, we are negotiating with a recruitment company now who’d like to use it for the purpose of onboarding candidates. The product itself is using IBM Watson’s components, our own AI mechanisms + some back-office functions for data analysis. This allows our clients to now only offer their customers a brand new, intelligent channel for customer service but also to assess the data and prepare a highly personalized offer.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Ah. I’ve been meaning to ask you about IBM Watson and the role it plays in your project. Can you elaborate a bit please? I get the feeling people get tingles every time somebody mentions IBM.
Michal:
Sure. Basically, VAIOT’s partnership with IBM resulted in a joint development project — Proof of Concept (PoC). You can see us talk more about the PoC project itself here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmK2yxSXbZA
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Ok, awesome, a video to catch up on after the AMA.
Michal:
We combined our dev teams and we sat down to see how we can make VAIOT happen. We used different IBM Watson components for different reasons such as NLP, among other things, to build the whole AI assistant user interface and ensure the highest level of user experience and data analysis. We tested how it interacts with our blockchain and how it can help us generate solid contracts. VAIOT utilizes many of Watson Assistant components in almost every area of the project, from contract generation to the development of intelligent distribution channels. The main advantage of integrating IBM Watson services into our products is the ability to leverage its conversational toolset. One of the examples would be the advanced NLP engine, which lets us build smooth and natural experiences with our legal assistant.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
You’ve mentioned contract generation, are you talking about the intelligent contracts there? I have to admit, I got lost when reading it, I’m gonna need you to dumb down the concept for me a bit, haha, what exactly are those?
Michal:
Yes, that’s what I had in mind. Let me bring that concept closer for you! Actually, the concept of intelligent contracts evolved for us as well since we founded the company in 2018, but it always was all about connecting the capabilities of AI and blockchain. We treat intelligent contracts as the full technology set but to make it easier we say intelligent contracts are smart contracts enhanced with AI and prepared by an AI assistant. The whole idea was since we are not all lawyers (or people with legal skills) and we are not all developers (we don’t necessarily possess the skills to use smart contracts on a daily basis) We should still be able to have access to blockchain capabilities. Most of us struggle with different contracts we sign or we need to sign; we know that law firms are expensive; we know that the overall concept of smart contracts is full of opportunities. That is why we came up with an idea of our own, cheap, fast, personal lawyer who will create or analyze a contract for you based on the combined knowledge of many lawyers and law firms and he’ll be able to give it to you in both a traditional and digital manner.
To sum up, intelligent contracts are a set of technologies (IBM Watson, Proprietary AI mechanisms, AI virtual assistant, VAIOT Code Generation Engine, VAIBC, Cosmos SDK and more) allowing any of us to analyze and create solid agreements thanks to the power of AI and blockchain.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
So, basically, saying, “Alexa, whip me up a sale contract”.
Pawel:
Sale, loan, will, and many more formal/legal documents to come!
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Okay, I have to be honest, it’s a tall order, but if you guys manage to deliver, it will be out of this world. Haha. How does your token come into it all? Tell us about its utility and role in the ecosystem.
Michal:
Token is my fav part as I love these digital economies. I will try to bring you closer to some of the concepts we have planned. Actually, the token economy around the VAI token is designed in such a way that the more users utilize VAIOT solutions, the bigger the impact is for the token (Demand) but I guess that’s obvious. With our payback program, part of each payback is denominated into VAI tokens and bought back from the free market. With the increased demand for services offered by VAIOT, there will be more transaction volume going through the platform — We offer the VAIOT value assurance system that guarantees the stable exchange rate during the payments and needs. VAI tokens as a part of collateral. In the VAIOT Bonding system, one can lock tokens in order to get access to the services in the subscription model. With mass adoption, all of that should lead to a high level of scarcity and usability. We have more utilities to come with our DeFi and DeLAa appearances soon, but that is another big topic to discuss at a later stage ;)
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha, ok, we have to save some surprises for later, sure. It sounds like the token is well integrated into the project, we always value true utility here at Raccoons.
Michal:
Indeed, not to mention the governance part which will be critical on the mainnet where we connect AI with Blockchain.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
I’ve noticed you guys pushed out a call for public testers for your platform's beta test a couple of days ago. How’s that going, how has the community responded to it, do you have some fresh insight to share already?
Daniel:
This is correct :) We just recently announced that our second round of beta testing is finally live! Each tester will receive $20 in VAI tokens and the 5 most active testers will share a prize pool of 2,350! You can apply via — -> https://vaiot.ai/ (Just scroll down a bit and you will see the beta application session) Since we are still in the process of collecting and screening applications. We have not gathered any feedback. But the beta testing was a huge success with more than 50 active testers :) and this was before the rSHO with DAO maker. The community has grown a lot since then and we have already seen this in the number of applications we have received so far.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Haha, I’m willing to bet there will be a couple of more than 50 this time around. Well, I think it’s safe to say your uniswap launch was a success, the DAO Maker rSHO as well, and I hope the beta test will be one as well. What’s next on the plate? What can the community expect from VAIOT in the months to come?
Daniel:
We have a lot going on right now already. Beta testing applications are open, VAI staking re-launch next week, VAIOT is hiring and our social reward program is live. On top of that, we are working on some more ecosystem partnerships — our biggest one will be announced soon ;) A top tier CEX is of top priority as well. We know how important it is for our community and we are working very hard on this.
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Ah, yes, a good CEX listing is still important, opens up the project to more people, not everybody is comfortable with uniswap… or can afford uniswap fees XD
Michal:
We also plan to increase our network of partners as well as seek more commercial implementations of our solutions just like we recently did with one of the biggest retail shop networks in Belgium — SupraBazar :)
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
Sounds like you guys have a ton of stuff going on and will have so in the months to come as well. Well, I think we’ve covered most of the basics here today!
Daniel:
Make sure to join our TG :) we are happy to keep the discussion going there
BobbyBlocker | DeFi Raccoons:
I’d like to thank all three of you for coming into DeFi Raccoons and talking to us about VAIOT today, we’ll be keeping an eye on you guys ;)
Visit Our website https://www.vaiot.ai/
Telegram: https://t.me/VAIOT_Community
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VAIOT_LTD
The VAIOT Website, Platforms, Solutions, and Services, and in particular VAI Tokens, are not offered for use and purchase to natural and legal persons having their permanent residence or their seat of incorporation in any of the restricted areas as listed in VAIOT’s Whitepaper, in particular: USA, Germany, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Singapore, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North and South Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, Zambia (Restricted Areas).
