From the Supervisory Council Team

Dear Singularitarians,

In its journey towards Decentralization, the SingularityNET community has elected a three-person Supervisory Council to lead the creation of a Decentralization Blueprint. The Council started work in November, and in this blog, we report on their progress so far.

TLDR:

• SC Mandate co-creation with community
• Timeline and process creation for Blueprint writing
• Completion of the first Blueprint Outline
• Launching regular workshops with the community to co-create the Blueprint
• Taskforce expansion: Lead Writer and Community Liaison
• Initiation of Website and Knowledge Base Collaboration

Supervisory Council Milestones:

Creation of the Supervisory Council Mandate

Upon election, the Supervisory Council (SC) created a mandate document with the input and feedback of the community and the Supervisory Council Task Force. The purpose of this process was to make sure that all stakeholders are aligned with the goals that SC set for itself.

The mandate clearly defines the primary purpose of the SC, which is to create a Blueprint for decentralization. The document explains what the Blueprint will contain and reaffirms the commitment of the SC to solicit the input of all stakeholders and community members to create the decentralization blueprint.

You can read the full Supervisory Council Mandate here:

Supervisory Council Mandate

Timeline Development for the Blueprint

The SC developed a timeline for Blueprint writing that includes workshopping with the community, writing and researching, and collecting community input on the document. The Blueprint Outline was developed through the process outlined by the SC.

In general, the collection of community input has slowed the process, but it remains essential. The most important aspect of creating the Blueprint for decentralization is having the buy-in of the community and the Foundation. So far, in our discussions with the community and the foundation, people are satisfied with the process and the opportunities that have been offered, both synchronous and asynchronous, for commenting on the Blueprint.

Completion of the Outline for the Decentralization Blueprint

The Supervisory Council collaborated with the community to create a basic outline of the Blueprint that identifies the main areas for inclusion. The topics address the governance needs of the community.

This version was locked on the week commencing February 5th, 2024, not as a final document but for version control and as a milestone of progress. Furthermore, the SC created a “substructure template” for the format of each section. The current outline errs towards “inclusive” in that inclusion was preferred wherever there was a question of whether to include a section or not. In other words, the Blueprint Outline represents the maximum scope of the Blueprint, but we are sure some sections will be eliminated in this iteration.

Decentralization Blueprint outline

Blueprint Subsections Structure Document

Through the process of discussing the Blueprint, it became clear that the community needs to settle on an initial “Purpose” for the design of the Blueprint to be relevant. The first of the “Purpose” workshops has taken place during the February 13th Ambassador Town Hall, and the discussions are scheduled to be completed by the first week in March. See the next section.

Launch of ‘Designing the Blueprint for Decentralization’ Community Workshop Series

Over the past weeks, the Supervisory Council hosted several community workshops that actively engaged the community in shaping the Decentralization Blueprint.

The community voiced preferences, opinions, concerns, and desires regarding the outline of the Blueprint as well as the overall writing and creation process. With community feedback, the Supervisory Council refined the outline and subsection structure of the Blueprint.

We strongly encourage all community stakeholders to take part in the “Purpose of SingularityNET Community” discussions taking place over the second half of February and the first week of March. One of the pitfalls we have identified in the community is the lack of a sense of what needs to be achieved to align with the goal of Benevolent AGI development.

As a result, much of the work that is being done in the community lacks a larger context. The general context of decentralization is being deeply explored throughout the DAO and Web3 industry as a whole, but what sets this community apart is the focus on Benevolent AGI. The SC intends to point the community in a direction that aligns with the greater goal of SingularityNET and provides tools and insights specific to the goal of decentralizing control of AI and Artificial General Intelligence.

This is an essential project for the future of humanity, and it could be the main differentiator between the SingularityNET Ambassadors Program and Deep Funding initiative and other DAOs. While the SC and the Blueprint have no binding or enforcement power, it is within our mandate to point out the opportunities and challenges that the community should be addressing.

It’s important to note that the Supervisory Council has not had the time to participate actively in the Discord channel devoted to DAO discussions, nor have they been active in the Telegram groups. This is a limitation built into the group that was elected. The SC is made up of three individuals who share a preference for synchronous meetings and long-form focus. As compensation for this shortcoming, we have expanded the Task Force to include a community liaison (see Task Force Expansion).

Further community workshops are planned within the coming weeks and will be announced via the SingularityNET social media channels and calendar.

Watch the recordings of the past workshops here:

Workshop #1: https://youtu.be/eLbeZNF9hAo?si=LWa7RCK9Mm62Y8Gz

Workshop #2: https://youtu.be/P-DSoVDc6I0?si=4wuhmq2h5PRxB-Yl

Workshop #3: https://youtu.be/vIQTTlgDWnw?si=tWpqmX7RS8HH3bL4

Task Force Expansion: Lead Writer and Community-Council Liaison

Along with the Supervisory Council elections, the SC was given the power to choose a Task Force from among several candidates who applied through the Swae proposal and decision-making platform. The SC has been doing so slowly and based on need as the process develops.

For Community Liaison and Lead Blueprint writer roles, the SC opened up the candidacy beyond the Task Force to the community and the general public. We were fortunate to have a fantastic pool of candidates and have interviewed several Task Force candidates. Ultimately, we chose one person from the Task Force applicants and one outside of the initial pool of applicants. We will continue to expand the Task Force as needed (see the next section on the Website and Knowledge Management).

The two additions to the Task Force are Judith Williams as Community Liaison and Dr. Nick Almond as lead writer for the Blueprint Writer.

Judith Williams has joined the team as the Supervisory Council Liaison. Her main objective is to coordinate and facilitate all communication and interaction between the Supervisory Council and the SingularityNET community by keeping the community informed of events and happenings regarding the Supervisory Council mandate, advising the Supervisory Council on developments in the SingularityNET community, and coordinating the Supervisory Council’s own events as well as participation at community meetings.

Nick Almond has joined the team as the Decentralization Blueprint Lead Writer. His main focus will be the development of a completed Decentralization Blueprint. His role includes research and coordination based on the inputs from the SingularityNET community, the SC and the Task Force, hosting community meetings to gather further input, researching existing DAO best practices and tooling, and giving valuable advice on the process of writing the document based on different opinions.

Initiation of Website and Knowledge Accessibility Collaboration

The Supervisory Council identified the need to have a repository of information for people to participate in meetings, see recordings of past meetings, find all the relevant documents, and understand the work being performed by the community. We initiated a number of conversations led by SingularityNET Decentralization Program Lead Esther Galfalvi and SC member Xhoni Shollaj, joined by experts from the wider community.

The Task Force then created an initial “minimum viable” outline for a public-facing website that would supersede the website that was used for the Decentralization Summit.

Simultaneously, the Deep Funding (DF) group identified comparable needs for their community-driven initiative! The trust and transparency between the two bodies led SingularityNET CPO Jan Horlings to inform the SC of the work they are about to do on an informational website about DF meetings and updates… and the next step was obvious. SC and DF are looking to join forces for this first website collaboration to provide updates and information to the community at large. The SC has also connected with the Ambassadors program to explore whether they can get on board imminently or join for a longer-term Knowledge Management project.

Further down the line, the knowledge base will also allow community members to get involved directly and participate further in the decentralization process of SingularityNET.

The first iteration of the website has been designed to include the following items:

• Overview of the decentralization efforts at SingularityNET
• Introduction to key identities involved in the process of developing and collaborating on the Decentralisation Blueprint
• The Decentralization Blueprint itself
• A blog page
• Upcoming events, workshops, and opportunities to get involved
• Actions and decision-making of the Supervisory Council and Task Force
• Recording of past events and workshops
• Library of materials, documents, and resources relates to the Supervisory Council mandate

However, we expect to slow down temporarily to create the inclusion process with DF and possibly the Ambassadors. This is an amazing first experiment in how we can collaborate and guide the wider SingularityNET community towards collaboration alongside decentralization. The SC wants to extend its gratitude to Esther Galfalvi, core members of the Ambassador Program’s Archives workgroup Vanessa Cardui, Stephen Whitenstall and André Diamond as well as all of the others who have provided guidance and deep knowledge in the scoping of this project.

What’s next?

At this halfway mark in the SC’s term of service, the Task Force is on track to have a solid draft of the Blueprint by the deadline at the end of April.

The full completion of the Blueprint will likely take us through May. At the same time, we expect to come in well within the budget allocated for the process.

Join the next workshop here on Wednesday, February 21st, 2024, at 5 pm UTC: https://singularitynet.zoom.us/j/88335542755

Submit your comments, feedback, and suggestions on the Decentralization Blueprint Outline and Subsections Structure here:

Decentralization Blueprint outline

Blueprint Subsections Structure Document

We are looking forward to everyone’s participation in the workshops and the asynchronous process of providing feedback as we move forward.