Exploring the AI Rainforest

Zeru

Welcome to Exploring the AI Rainforest, where we explore large language models, use cases, AI agents in Web3, reputation, and the innovative businesses and people at the forefront of this burgeoning space.

Episodes

  1. 12/23/2025

    Exploring the AI Rainforest: Denis from Upscale and StormTrade

    In this episode, we dive deep into the world of decentralized trading with Denis, founder of two innovative platforms reshaping Web3 finance. We explore how Upscale is revolutionizing the prop trading model by bringing it on-chain and making it accessible through Telegram and web platforms, while StormTrade continues to dominate as the leading perpetual DEX on the TON blockchain with over $4.6 billion in trading volume. Key Topics Discussed - Denis's Background & Journey into Crypto - Learning Solidity & Smart Contract Development - The Birth of StormTrade - The Upscale Vision - What is Prop Trading? - Upscale's Unique Value Proposition - AI Integration & Trading Tools - 2026 Roadmap - Zeru x Upscale Partnership Get started: Visit https://zpass.ai to mint your zPass and claim your promo code, then head to https://upscale.trade to activate your benefits. Key Quotes "Upscale is an alpha monetization platform. If you have trading alpha, you can monetize it." - Denis "You can never improve your existing processes with Web3. You need to reinvent how your core product works because blockchain wouldn't help you improve by just plugging it into your database." - Denis "The most important thing traders need is alpha-ness - having an edge over the market - and consistency in money management." - Denis Resources & Links Upscale - Website: https://upscale.trade - X: https://twitter.com/upscale_trade - Farcaster: Upscale official account StormTrade - Website: https://storm.trade Zeru / zPass - Website: https://zpass.ai - Mint your zPass and check your zScore for exclusive Upscale benefits Episode Timestamps - 0:00 - Intro & zPass sponsor message - 1:27 - Denis's background and journey into crypto - 5:43 - Learning Solidity and smart contract development - 11:30 - Building StormTrade - 22:42 - The problem Upscale solves - 27:02 - What is prop trading? - 34:54 - Upscale's unique approach - 40:03 - AI integration and trading tools - 48:35 - 2026 roadmap for both platforms - 51:08 - Zeru x Upscale partnership benefits - 53:40 - Closing thoughts

    55 min
  2. 11/10/2025

    Building Community-Driven AGI with Oleg Golev from Sentient

    Episode SummaryIn this episode, we dive deep into the world of decentralized AI with Oleg Golev, Technical Product Manager at Sentient. We explore how Sentient is building open infrastructure for community-driven AGI, challenging the centralized approach of companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.Key Topics DiscussedThe Mission: Decentralizing AI Development Why AI development shouldn't be concentrated in closed labsThe extractive nature of current AI giants and their betrayal of open principlesBuilding sustainable incentive systems for open-source AI contributors Revolutionary Technology: Roma (Recursive Open Meta Agent) Introduction to recursive agents vs. traditional iterative approachesHow Roma solves the "context rot" problem plaguing current AI systemsState-of-the-art performance beating Gemini 2.5 Pro, ChatGPT, and PerplexityThe potential for amplifying smaller language models through recursive structuresThe Grid Ecosystem Sentient's core product: a protocol connecting developers, artifacts, and infrastructureOpen-source monetization models that reward contributorsPartnerships with major projects like Composio and ConfidentAIHow developers can build, fork, and monetize AI applications Dobby: The World's First Fingerprinted AI Model Community-built model co-owned by 700,000+ peopleAdvanced AI alignment techniques without compromising safety or benchmarksFingerprinting technology for model verification and ownershipVision for customizable AI personalities and beliefs Technical Deep Dives Context rot and why iterative agents fail at long-horizon tasksAI alignment as a solution to safety challengesThe infrastructure question: decentralized vs. centralized computeBlockchain as a trust layer for sustainable AI development Looking Ahead Upcoming partnerships with top-tier research labsThe formal launch of Sentient's blockchain protocolBuilding the "Linux of AI" - open-source alternatives to closed AI productsFour papers accepted to NeurIPS, the premier AI research conference Notable Quotes"AI could not be contained, controlled, and densely concentrated within one entity. AI is so powerful of a technology that should not be the case."- Oleg Golev"We want to create an environment where people come and contribute and work on [AI artifacts] and get the ownership and contribution attribution that is fair."- Oleg Golev"The entire world runs on Linux... there is no open source product solutions for people to take, customize, build for local hosting, for customization, for privacy reasons."- Oleg GolevResources Mentioned- Roma Deep Research: Sentient's state-of-the-art recursive agent framework- Sentient Chat: Demo application showcasing Grid ecosystem capabilities - Dobby: Community-owned, fingerprinted AI model family- Grid Protocol: The core ecosystem connecting developers and AI artifactsConnect with Sentient - Website: https://sentient.xyz or https://sentient.foundation - Follow on X: https://x.com/SentientAGI or - Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sentientagi/ - Explore their research papers and latest releases---Take Action: Unlock Your On-Chain ReputationSpeaking of revolutionary AI and blockchain technology, your crypto wallet already has a reputation that protocols are tracking - but you're not getting credit for it. That's where zScore and zPass come in.zScore measures your on-chain reputation, while zPass turns it into real value - lower fees, higher yields, and better deals across DeFi. Mint once and unlock thousands in potential savings.If you're tired of being treated like a bot when you're a real user, visit https://zpass.ai to learn more about zScore and zPass, and get on the zPass whitelist today.Ready to get the credit you deserve for your on-chain activity? Your reputation is already being tracked - now make it work for you.

    1h 10m

About

Welcome to Exploring the AI Rainforest, where we explore large language models, use cases, AI agents in Web3, reputation, and the innovative businesses and people at the forefront of this burgeoning space.