Fetch.ai set to rapidly scale says, CEO Humayun Sheikh

Fetch.ai and its native FET token are unleashing the power of blockchain-based machine learning artificial intelligence (AI).

Two years ago, Coin Rivet chief reporter Oliver Knight visited Cambridge to investigate an emerging blockchain start-up making waves with an ambitious vision and $6m in funding from a Binance launch.

Today, that same company is on the precipice of revolutionising the way technology informs and improves our lives – from the way we drive our cars to the way we manage our cities. This company is Fetch.ai.

Fetch.ai (FET) is seeking to bridge the cutting-edge of technological innovation with the products and services we use everyday, by delivering the first multi-agent SaaS blockchain platform for the deployment of AI agents empowered by powerful machine learning algorithms.

Speaking with CEO Humayun Sheikh

Following on from Fetch’s impressive Deep Parking showcase at the IAA global mobility conference, Coin Rivet sat down once again with Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh to discuss the past, present, and future of this exciting project.

The conference saw Fetch demonstrate the potential of powerful new deep parking algorithms that send the user a live feed of parking recommendations suggesting by an AI agent constantly analysing nearby availability, costs, road conditions, and other factors.

With the IAA attended by many of the auto industry’s biggest names, it’s clear that Fetch.ai intended to put this technology in front of some very important people. This forms part of a bigger strategy, focused on securing integration partnerships with leading firms.

When asked how successful the event had been for Fetch, the CEO explained that, even though it was difficult to excite automobile executives, the Deep Parking technology had delivered.

“We had a lot of interest at the conference, but the difficulty is that the automobile industry is very conservative,” he explained.

“The first question is always about safety and reliability, so it can take a new company like Tesla to shake things up and try something new.

“We passed that test, the industry were interested and impressed.”

This marks a huge transition from the reception the Fetch.ai team learnt to expect in the early days. Two years ago, the company faced concern about the viability and legitimacy of its project.

While this didn’t stop Fetch from securing $6m in 10 seconds during FET’s Binance Launchpad ICO, it did present an early barrier to growth – something which is shared by many new start-ups in the emergent blockchain space.

Humayun now paints a green picture. After two years of development and tinkering, there are now genuine use cases and demonstrable working products, and the industry has changed a lot too in the same timeframe.

There is a lot more acceptance and immediate interest in the blockchain industry now. However, the first question people often now ask is: ‘What the regulatory risk exposure looks like?’ This marks a disconnect, because cryptocurrencies are overshadowing the wider applications of blockchain technologies in the eyes of regulators.

Connecting us to the cutting-edge

Connecting people with these pioneering technologies is something Humayun cares deeply about.

This has led to the inclusion of community participants at every opportunity, including the recent CoLearn Paint event which showcased just how easy it is for everyday people to contribute to collective learning algorithms.

Humayun went on to explain that public participation was crucial to the development of good AI – the machine needs inputs to learn from and, in a relatively homogenous industry such as software development, it can be a challenge to make sufficiently random and unbiased contributions.

Perhaps one of the places Fetch.ai will be most impactful is in the developing world, with FET set to empower mobile phone users globally, and enabling those in emerging economic contexts to access the cutting-edge of technology in a decentralised capacity.

Humayun explained that Fetch.ai would completely revolutionise the way in which information is gathered, aggregated and used.

“This would be a complete overhaul of the current aggregation model – like AirBnB or Uber, and even Google,” he explained.

“There is no need for aggregators to sit in the middle as the agent-based system from Fetch.ai has the technology to deliver the same but without the cost of the aggregator.”

Simply put, the vision is about being able to deploy searchers rather than searching. In the 21st century it is no longer enough to be able to simply ask to retrieve information. What is needed is the ability to be able to ask for the best decision.

What’s next for Fetch.ai?

With it’s 2021 roadmap nearly complete, Fetch.ai is delivering its smart search functionality at an impressive pace. Coin Rivet asked the CEO what 2022 would mean for the project. Without hesitation, his response was… “Apps, apps, apps.”

Indeed, as the project finalises migrating away from ETH, it seems everything is in place to begin aggressively scaling the number of applications available on the platform, and bring to life the commercial partnerships Fetch has been establishing.

“The apps will be to introduce consumers to a new way of doing things,” the CEO said.

“They will be able to do multiple things from the same app but also to search and complete transactions in a dynamic manner where the agent does the work for you.”

As for when the first app can be expected to land in consumers’ hands?

“Before Christmas,” he revealed.

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