Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have become popular tools for everyday use in various tasks, from hobbyists to professionals. For this report, Finbold once again exclusively talked to the creator of a pay-per-use AI platform that accepts cryptocurrency payments.
In particular, we explored PayPerQ, or PPQ.AI, created by Matt Ahlborg, who answered a few questions about his endeavor. Essentially, the tool takes Bitcoin (BTC) payments through the Lightning Network to access paid APIs of ChatGPT-4, Claude 3 Opus, Dall-E 3, and others.
“I want PPQ to be a way for normal people to start getting away from annoying subscriptions!”
– Matt Ahlborg
PayPerQ opening page with available AI models. Source: PPQ.AI
This tool is similar to NanoGPT, which Finbold reported in October 2023 as an experimental Telegram bot, pioneering the use case. Later, nano-gpt.com evolved into a user-friendly website with built-in swaps among many cryptocurrencies while using Nano (XNO) as its unit of accounting.
Matt Ahlborg talks about PayPerQ AI
As we talked, Ahlborg explained that he plans to make PayPerQ a “Bitcoin first” service where he gives “special care and consideration to the lightning implementation.”
Lightning Network advantages
Notably, he highlighted the usage, development, and investment network effects of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network as key factors for this decision.
Interestingly, Lightning’s invoice-based model is another advantage for this business, as Matt explored in our talk. Thanks to requiring invoices, PayPerQ can easily recover users’ credits if they accidentally clear browser data, considering the service is accountless and does not collect private information.
Furthermore, the platform can limit the maximum amount each user deposits through invoices, avoiding unnecessary custody risks from large deposits.
“Lightning has its flaws for sure, but it was still the best option among the ones I had for a micropayment service, in my opinion.”
– Matt AhlborgPPQ.AI may implement other cryptocurrencies in the future
However, the creator of PPQ.AI said there is room for future implementations of other cryptocurrencies following specific criteria. Cheap fees, fast transactions, incumbent network effect, and other “nice tech features” were mentioned as part of these requirements.
Yet, Matt Ahlborg doubled on his opinion that Lightning stands out among other viable options. On that note, he mentioned five or six possible future implementations, being Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Nano (XNO), and USDT or USDC on networks like Polygon, Arbitrum, and Solana
“The ultimate goal here is to solve problems for people around the world so they don’t have to have a credit card to get access to premium AI.”
– Matt Ahlborg1/ Hey all, I built something!Introducing PayPerQ, (website: https://t.co/nF0FusrEL1, twitter: @PPQdotAI), a sleek and functional ChatGPT4 experience which operates on a pay-per-query model via Bitcoin micropayments: pic.twitter.com/XZMXkGmIIr
— Matt Ahlborg (@MattAhlborg) March 25, 2024In closing, Matt’s solution features among core innovations in the artificial intelligence crossover with the cryptocurrency landscape. Ahlborg said he was unaware of similar tools when he first started building PayPerQ months ago. Nevertheless, he later “borrowed ideas” from others like Unleashed.chat, OpenAgents, Nano-GPT, and Sats4ai.
