Ethereum Enables Private AI Payments with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
The Ethereum Foundation has launched zkAPI on its main network, allowing users to pay for AI services without revealing their identity. This system utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to separate payment from identity, making it difficult to link a user's requests with their personal information.
According to the Ethereum Foundation, 'Prompts are personal. People ask AI models about their health, their finances, their doubts.' With zkAPI, users can deposit credits into a vault contract on Ethereum and then use private notes that only they can spend without being tracked.
The project was built in collaboration with the Open Anonymity Project and includes OA Chat, a browser-based private chatbot. The code for zkAPI is open-source and available on GitHub.
This implementation addresses concerns over privacy in the AI space, particularly after a federal court ordered OpenAI to preserve its output logs, including deleted chats, in a copyright lawsuit.