Last year I covered the launch of GraphPath, a new startup that had developed a platform that aimed to “insert AI into global corporates” by making it easy to create and manage so-called Knowledge Graphs with its “Knowledge Graph-as-a-Service” technology.
Knowledge Graphs are essentially a way to organize data in an endless network of facts and relationships. It’s similar to Facebook’s ‘social graph’ (which contains highly descriptive data about how people are connected) but instead is about how knowledge is connected. In theory, you could use blockchain to create a knowledge graph, and in fact, that’s what the company claims to have now done. Google’s Knowledge Graph powers its search functions, and according to the company contains over 70 billion facts.
Today it’s announcing GraphOS, which is described as “the world’s first decentralized operating system for Knowledge Graphs on the blockchain, that will be enabled by the GraphOS Protocol,” according to Demian Bellumio, GraphPath’s CEO.
What does that mean in plain English?
Basically, it means GraphOS will allow for a network of Knowledge Graphs to be safely and securely be interconnected via blockchain technology. Through this network, a wide array of participants, such as Knowledge Graph owners, data providers, knowledge experts, and data scientists will be able to transact with each other. GraphPath calls this ecosystem, a Graph Operating System, as it will manage all the resources necessary to run the Network, thereby the name GraphOS.
Bellumio says that in order to really derive value from a Knowledge Graph, not only do enterprises need to master the complex technologies that are necessary to build and manage these complex semantic data systems, but they must also have access to large volumes of data.
A telco that builds a graph with just their customers’ app usage data, will never be able to draw powerful insights from that data alone, according to Bellumio. It would also need QoS data, web browsing data, and even geolocation.
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So how does an enterprise engage with other enterprises or data providers to acquire this complementary data? That’s where blockchain and smart contracts come in.
The GraphOS Protocol provides a mechanism for defining and exchanging knowledge assets, such as data, code, ownership and governance details, feeding into the complementary data.
In addition, GraphPath plans to open-source all of its tools, while making them all natively support the GraphOS protocol.
GraphPath is also planning an ecosystem around this idea. It’s also now creating the GraphOS Consortium, which will be co-chaired by GraphPath’s CEO Bellumio and Andrew McLaughlin, who has worked with ICANN, Google, the US Government and Tumblr. Consortium members include Chris Boos from Arago and Antoine Blondeau from Sentient, Carlos Domingo from Securitize and SPiCE VC and Shayne Coplan from TokenUnion, and Andrew McLaughlin from Higher Ground Labs and Michael Sarasti from the City of Miami.