Fireside chat with Dominic Williams, DFINITY, and Kartik Talwar, ETHGlobal I Pragma Singapore 2024

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Join Dominic Williams, Founder of DFINITY and Chief Scientist of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), in this fascinating fireside chat at Pragma Singapore 2024. This session explores the future of AI on-chain, the evolution of blockchain technology, and how smart contracts on the Internet Computer are redefining decentralization, security, and scale. Discover how ICP enables secure, scalable, and tamperproof AI models to run as smart contracts, and why traditional Web2 infrastructure falls short. Dominic breaks down key innovations like chain-key cryptography, deterministic GPU execution, and chain fusion, allowing seamless, trustless interoperability with Ethereum and Bitcoin. 00:00 Intro to Dominic Williams & Internet Computer 00:51 Origins of DFINITY and Vision for a World Computer 03:01 Smart Contracts as Next-Gen Software 04:10 Properties of Tamperproof Smart Contracts 05:25 Why AI Needs Blockchain Security 07:10 The “Hot Wallet” Problem for AI Data 08:19 Running AI Models as Smart Contracts 09:13 ICP's Execution Environment & Memory Limits 10:23 Scaling to Run LLMs on Chain 12:15 SIMD, Optimizations, and Llama 3 on ICP 13:13 Current Limits and GPU Delegation Challenges 14:47 Inference vs. Training for On-Chain AI 15:47 Vector Databases and On-Chain Prompt Engineering 16:59 Challenges of GPU Determinism for Blockchains 18:31 AI Use Cases: Smart Wallets, Law, Autonomy 19:55 AI-Generated Web Apps and Autonomous Upgrades 21:57 The Ultimate Platform for AI Agents 23:29 Chain-Key Crypto and Chain Fusion Overview 24:38 Interoperability with Ethereum and Bitcoin 26:13 Fully Autonomous DApps and Decentralized Governance 26:43 Closing Thoughts on Fully On-Chain AI & DApps _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇸🇬 *Pragma Singapore* Pragma Singapore 2024 was a special gathering of founders and builders that took place September 19, 2024 at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore. Pragma Singapore 2024 was an opportunity discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. Watch the full Pragma Singapore playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6z0saYJnVdgXWfz-vaoEYx&si=uavhkhF5Kc8XBoLv ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow DFINITY* X: https://x.com/dfinity ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _