MDN–The Aspiring ‘Exxon Mobil’ in the Data-fuelled Era

As more and more tech giants are delving into the potential of big data to optimise product lines and services, countries are also becoming aware of its strategic value. The sheer potential and radiating impact of big data based upon analysing, obtaining and trading data make it a precious resource that businesses are scrambling for.

AI technology is transforming data into the new petroleum

Just as in pre-modern times, the land is the vital means of production, and then into the industrial era, oil has become the predominant resource, so in this era of the digital economy, big data is irrefutably an important means of production. All of this can be attributed to the advancement of AI technologies. In this new age of AI, productivity will come from algorithms and models generated through AI. To train effective algorithms and models, we need massive amounts of high-quality data–the more, the better. We can safely predict that, into the age of AI, quality data will give businesses and entities a leading-edge, just like petroleum is the fuel for today’s economy.

Opportunities and challenges of the data-fuelled age

The way data is created and used makes it different from any other means of production. In this new age, we will face the following challenges.

(1) Ownership

If data can be seen as a kind of property, its ownership is difficult to decide. But without a solution to this, the digital asset will never be worth taking seriously.

(2) Privacy

Different from other kinds of fuels, data is highly individual. One of the greatest challenges facing us is how to utilise data without compromising privacy.

(3) Safety

Data can easily be copied and reused, which negates its intrinsic value if we do not have a solution.

If the aforementioned challenges can be solved, it is possible for the data of individuals and institutions to be traded in the capital market legally. This is how data will become the fuel of the future. MDN (MDNcenter.com), founded in early 2019, has a keen sense of these challenges and opportunities. They will strive to use groundbreaking technologies to overcome the challenges and become a ‘data fuel’ empire, just like Exxon Mobil is an empire built upon oil.

MDN believes that blockchain and AI are the key to problems of ownership, privacy and safety.

Blockchain–the best solution for data ownership. Features such as decentralisation and immutability make blockchain the perfect answer to data ownership issues. MDN plans to utilise blockchain technology by setting up a data ownership authentication platform on the powerful Matrix mainnet. This will be a big step towards making data a true form of personal asset.

Distributed storage–the umbrella of privacy. Everyone wants a distributed network to lower the cost of storage. MDN takes the creative approach to apply this technology in data management to solve privacy issues. No one except the user will have access to his or her data in their intact form. Even hackers will find it impossible to sabotage the owner’s privacy, which will be stored in the many thousand separate segments.

Federated learning–the natural counter to cheap data copying. Utilising distributed storage, we can cut data into segments and use them to train several algorithm models simultaneously, before combining the results to get an optimised final machine learning plan. In this situation, AI scientist can use the data but not copy them. Thus, data can truly exist as a personal asset.

The three-pronged approach will solve all the obstacles to the age of big data. The more we tap into the true potential of data, the more it becomes a tangible asset. A data-fuelled economy will no longer be a dream.