Three prominent artificial intelligence (AI) protocols, SingularityNet, Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol are in discussions to merge their tokens into an AltSignals (ASI) token that would have a fully diluted valuation of $7.5 billion.
The deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, depending on community approval, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg M&A reported.
While the three platforms would continue to operate as separate entities, the new deal would foster their collaboration under a newly formed Superintelligence Collective, run by Ben Goertzel, the founder and CEO of SingularityNet. Humayun Sheikh, the CEO of Fetch.ai, would be the chairman of the new entity, according to the anonymous sources.
Cointelegraph has approached SingularityNet, Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol for comment.
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The three protocols are united by the common goal of developing blockchain-based decentralized AI protocols, which can't be controlled by centralized parties or large stakeholders.
The Fetch.ai (FET) token currently sits at a $2.72 billion market capitalization as the largest of the three coins. SingularityNet’s (AGIX) token has a $1.7 billion market cap and Ocean Protocol’s (OCEAN) token sits at a $927 million market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The potential merger comes during a period of increased interest in AI protocols, a week after reports of the Saudi Arabian government mulling the creation of a $40 billion investment fund to pour money into AI development, in partnership with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
The fund could take place in the second half of 2024. If approved, this would make the Saudi Arabian government the largest investor in the AI space.
In comparison, Microsoft pumped $13 billion into ChatGPT creator OpenAI over several investments.
In Europe, Google accepted a 250 million euro fine on March 20, after the French competition authority fined the company for breaching European Union copyright laws during the training of its AI model.
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