Synopsis: In this Techstrong.ai Leadership Insights interview, FLock.io CEO Jiahao Sun explains how data privacy concerns in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) will soon require organizations to shift more toward a decentralized approach to managing and securing data using blockchain platforms.
Sun notes that while AI offers clear benefits, its reliance on large volumes of data raises concerns — particularly in regulated industries such as banking and healthcare, where even internal data sharing can be restricted. Some organizations have avoided tools like ChatGPT altogether due to uncertainty about how information might be stored, used or exposed.
He argues that privacy breaches don’t have to be large-scale events to be significant. As AI models absorb more global data, users are becoming more aware of how quickly personal information can influence targeted marketing or other outputs. This heightened awareness is driving interest in privacy-preserving architectures.
Sun also outlines approaches such as open-source and locally tuned models, encryption that keeps raw data hidden from recipients, and federated learning — including blockchain-based governance to ensure transparency in how models are trained. These methods aim to keep raw data on local devices while still contributing to broader model improvements.
He suggests that blockchain’s role could extend beyond cryptocurrency, providing a governance layer to prevent centralized entities from misusing training data. Expertise in both AI and blockchain will be required, with participation from technical “power users” and general stakeholders alike.
Within organizations, Sun sees CIOs and security leaders as likely champions for privacy-first AI, but adoption often begins with industries already constrained by regulation. Decentralized solutions may also appeal to companies operating across jurisdictions with varying privacy laws, offering a consistent technical safeguard in place of navigating complex compliance requirements.
Sun believes that as the value of business data grows, more enterprises will seek private AI solutions to protect it — shifting the balance away from centralized providers toward decentralized, user-controlled systems.
