AI + blockchain: Building a globally inclusive technology ecosystem

Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are attracting growing academic and industrial attention. AI improves prediction, decision-making, and automation through data-driven learning, while blockchain provides a decentralized, secure, and transparent data infrastructure. Their integration has demonstrated promising applications in diverse domains, spanning smart healthcare, smart cities, fintech, and beyond. To ensure inclusive global benefits, international cooperation, open innovation, and multilateral governance frameworks are essential for advancing “AI + blockchain” as an infrastructure for sustainable development.

AI-blockchain synergistic enhancement

AI-driven improvements to blockchain technologies manifest across four key dimensions. First, AI can redefine the sustainability of blockchain systems. To mitigate the high energy costs of proof of work (PoW), machine-learning-based consensus mechanisms such as proof of federated learning (PoFL) redirect computational effort from redundant hash calculations to federated learning tasks. By coupling consensus formation with socially meaningful objectives, including image recognition, these approaches convert energy consumption from a pure overhead into a productive input, providing a viable route toward sustainable blockchain architectures. Second, AI improves the scalability of blockchain systems. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) dynamically tunes key system parameters in response to changing network loads and data volumes. This adaptive optimization enables blockchain infrastructures to efficiently support large-scale, complex applications, such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks. Third, AI strengthens blockchain security. NeuroChain illustrates a distributed architecture in which autonomous AI agents integrate large language models (LLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for real-time data analysis. This AI-assisted monitoring enhances network security, robustness, and overall reliability. Fourth, AI enhances blockchain operational efficiency. The decentralized AI-enabled blockchain network (DAIBCN) uses decision-tree architectures to optimize miner selection, remove energy-intensive hash computations, and prune block-level data. These strategies yield lighter, faster, and more efficient blockchain systems.