That concludes my presentation at the Consensus Conference.

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Dear pioneers, developers, and all the friends here with us today. Hello everyone. I am Nicolas Kokkalis, co-founder and chief technology officer of Pi network. Today, I am truly honored to stand on the convergence stage at Consensus 2026 to discuss with all of you one of the most urgent and important core issues in the artificial intelligence era. How to prove that you are a real human being without revealing your personal private data.

[00:00:29]This discussion is not an abstract academic debate. It is a fundamental challenge directly related to the future trust foundation of blockchain in web 3 artificial intelligence and the entire digital economy. One, in the artificial intelligence era, the internet's S trust model is facing systemic collapse. Let us first focus on the most serious reality we face today. With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence, AI systems can now create highly realistic digital identities at extremely low cost. They can generate convincing personal profiles, social media accounts, video images, and even simulate human conversations in real time. Apply for jobs, create dating profiles, and conduct business negotiations. While this technology brings great convenience, it is fundamentally destroying the original trust model of the internet. In the past, we could relatively easily determine whether the person on the other side was real through account registration information, behavior patterns, and activity history. Today, AI bots can imitate human behavior 24 hours a day without interruption, generate seemingly authentic content, participate in economic activities, and even carry out large-scale fraud. This has caused the trust cost of the entire digital world to rise sharply, making traditional verification methods increasingly fragile. When a bot can apply for jobs, attend interviews, build emotional connections, and conduct financial transactions just like a real person, how can we be sure that the individual behind the screen is authentic? When fake identities can be manufactured at low cost and on a massive scale, trust is no longer the default. It becomes a scarce resource that requires a high price to obtain. In this is the core challenge we are discussing today in an era of highly advanced artificial intelligence.

[00:02:39]How can we reliably verify that you are a real human being without forcing users to reveal their private identity data?

[00:02:47]Two, identity verification is the foundation for meaningful integration with the real world economy. Why is solving this problem so important?

[00:02:56]Because any meaningful integration with the real world economy must be built upon a reliable foundation of identity.

[00:03:03]When you make cross-border remittances, sign smart contracts, participate in decentralized governance, apply for micro loans, subscribe to services, or engage in everyday transactions on a platform, you need to answer one fundamental question: Who are you? Are you a real, trustworthy, and accountable human being? If identity cannot be reliably verified, effective trust mechanisms cannot be established, and genuine large-scale value transfer and economic activity become impossible. In the traditional financial system, we rely on government-issued IDs, passports, and strict bank KYC processes to solve this. In the blockchain and Web3 world, without a reliable identity verification mechanism, the entire ecosystem can easily become a breeding ground for speculation, fraud, and false prosperity. The emergence of artificial intelligence has made this problem more urgent than ever. AI can easily generate realistic identities, rendering traditional centralized verification methods increasingly ineffective and putting fully anonymous decentralized systems at serious risk of security and compliance issues. Three, Pi Network. As solution, a globally scalable KYC identity verification system from the very first day Pi Network was founded.

[00:04:30]We made verifying real identity one of the core infrastructures of the entire ecosystem. We did not choose the extreme path of complete anonymity, nor did we adopt a simple overly centralized verification approach. Instead, we built a globally scalable, privacy-friendly, and highly reliable KYC identity verification system. The core design philosophy of this system is maximize authenticity, minimize privacy leakage.

[00:05:02]Specifically, we adopted a multi-layered hybrid verification mechanism.

[00:05:07]Large-scale distributed human verification network, more than 1 million verified KYC verifiers have completed over 526 million verification tasks. These real human verifiers handle complex situations, resolve ambiguities, and make final judgments, ensuring high accuracy and credibility of the verification results.

[00:05:32]AI-assisted human judgment hybrid model.

[00:05:35]AI handles rule-based, repetitive, preliminary screening, while human verifiers make the final decision. This combination ensures both efficiency and significantly improved accuracy and anti-fraud capability.

[00:05:50]Advanced 3D liveness detection and biometric technology effectively prevents deception using photos, videos, masks, or deep fakes, ensuring participants are real living people.

[00:06:02]Zero-knowledge proofs and privacy protection design where necessary, zero-knowledge proof technology is used so users can prove they meet certain conditions without revealing specific personal information. Security circles and global trust graph each pioneer as security circle composed of people they trust ultimately aggregates into the network as overall trust foundation.

[00:06:29]This trust graph, based on human social relationships, makes Pi's identity verification system more decentralized and more robust. Through the organic integration of these technologies and mechanisms, Pi has provided precise and efficient identity verification services to more than 18 million people. This is an extremely rare achievement among global blockchain projects and has laid a solid foundation for Pi's as further development in the artificial intelligence era. Four, the unique strategic value of Pi's KYC in the AI era. In the artificial intelligence era, Pi's KYC solution holds special strategic significance.

[00:07:13]First, it provides blockchain networks with a reliable foundation of real users. Without real identities, effective economic activity, smart contract governance, and value transfer cannot be established. Pi's large-scale KYC user network provides a solid trust foundation for subscription features, launchpad, Ardo bway, and future practical applications. Second, it supplies high-quality, trustworthy human input data for artificial intelligence systems. Verified real users can provide authentic feedback, data annotation, content moderation, and complex judgment for AI models, helping AI better understand the human world and avoid model collapse or output bias. Third, it achieves high credibility verification while protecting privacy. This is exactly what the current internet lacks the most. Pi has proven that in the AI era, verifying real identity and protecting personal privacy can be achieved simultaneously, providing an important example for building trustworthy digital economies.

[00:08:25]Fourth, it offers a scalable identity infrastructure for global markets and applications. Whether in block chat, in Web3, or traditional enterprises that need reliable identity verification, Pi i KYC solution can serve as an underlying infrastructure. Five, Pi S philosophy, technology should serve humanity, not replace it during today.

[00:08:51]As discussion, I repeatedly emphasized one core view, technology should serve humanity, not replace humanity or create anxiety. Our exploration in identity verification is a vivid practice of this philosophy. We do not pursue the chaos caused by complete anonymity, nor do we pursue the privacy risks brought by excessive centralization. We seek the best balance between protecting privacy and establishing trust so that every person can participate in the digital economy safely while maintaining personal dignity and privacy. This is also the essential difference between Pi and some other projects. We do not create panic. We do not chase short-term valuation bubbles. We focus only on solving real problems and building long-term value. Six, future outlook. Pi will continue to lead in identity verification. Looking ahead, Pi network will continue to deepen exploration and innovation in the field of identity verification, further optimize the KYC process to improve user experience and verification efficiency. Develop more zero-knowledge proof-related privacy protection technologies.

[00:10:06]Expand the distributed human verification network to undertake more tasks requiring human judgment. Open up KYC capabilities to more partners and application scenarios to form a global identity infrastructure. We believe that in the artificial intelligence era, trustworthy identity verification will be one of the most fundamental and valuable facilities in the digital economy. Pi has laid ID the groundwork in advance and will continue to invest so that more ordinary people can participate in the global digital economy safely, conveniently, and with dignity. Seven, a heartfelt message to all pioneers. Dear pioneers, the panel discussion on May 7th was not just an academic exchange. It was an important moment for Pi to demonstrate its values and technical strength to the world. It shows us that Pi is not a speculative project chasing hotspots, but a blockchain in ecosystem with deep thinking, long-term vision, and solid technical accumulation.

[00:11:13]I sincerely thank every pioneer for your contributions. It is because of your daily Pi mining, KYC verification, node operation, app usage, and feedback that Pi has today strong foundation of real users and trust. No matter how the external world changes, please continue to my enter in confidence and patience.

[00:11:35]Pi S path may not be the loudest, but it is certainly the most stable, the warmest, and the most sustainable.

[00:11:45]Eight, closing remarks pioneers. In today's as rapidly developing artificial intelligence landscape, how to prove you are human has become a global challenge.

[00:11:56]Pi network is providing its own answer through the integration of technological innovation and human wisdom. We establish a trustworthy digital identity system while protecting privacy. We believe this path will not only help Pi stand out in the AI era, but will also contribute a valuable trust infrastructure to the entire digital world. The future of Pi is bright because of all of you. Let us continue to join hands and build a truly human-centered trustworthy digital future in the artificial intelligence era. Thank you, everyone.