Ashutosh Synghal, VP of Engineering at Midcentury Labs Inc, discusses Midcentury, a company aiming to revolutionize the AI industry by prioritizing privacy through the use of blockchain technology. Their platform allows for individuals to control and monetize their own data, while also providing high-quality datasets for AI developers without compromising personal information. This approach not only meets regulatory requirements but also promotes more accurate and ethical AI development. The company plans on launching partnerships with leading AI firms and rolling out a consumer application later in the year, as well as conducting research on the impact of their privacy-preserving techniques. They also have a governance framework in place to ensure ethical and transparent growth. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
What is Midcentury, who are the brains behind this project, what problems are you solving and what unique solutions are you providing?
Midcentury Labs is tackling one of the biggest challenges in AI today—the fact that over 90% of AI models rely on centralized data repositories, leaving individuals with little to no control over how their personal information is used. We believe that AI can be powerful without being invasive, and we’re proving that through our privacy-first AI ecosystem.
As VP of Engineering, I lead the development of decentralized, privacy-preserving solutions that eliminate the outdated trade-off between privacy and AI innovation. Our platform integrates advanced cryptographic techniques, allowing AI developers to access high-quality datasets while ensuring individuals retain control over their personal information and receive fair compensation.
One of our standout innovations is our consumer-facing application, which enables people to securely link accounts, manage data permissions, and participate in data-sharing quests. This allows users to contribute anonymized insights to AI models in a way that is completely transparent, secure, and rewarding.
Please tell us more about yourself?
I’m Ashutosh Synghal, Vice President of Engineering at Midcentury Labs Inc. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University, and my expertise lies in AI, cryptography, and decentralized systems.
Before joining Midcentury, I worked at Amazon, where I focused on optimizing checkout workflows and AI-driven personalization strategies. Beyond my technical work, I have been actively involved in AI ethics and data privacy research, particularly in addressing bias in venture capital funding. Recently, I served as a judge at MIT Media Lab’s Sundai.Club Snowstorm Hackathon, evaluating AI-driven privacy solutions designed to give users greater control over their data.
Your solution enables individuals to control and monetize their data; how does this decentralized marketplace model benefit both users and AI developers?
For the first time, individuals have real control over their data. Instead of their personal information being harvested without consent, users can decide exactly how their data is shared, who can access it, and how they are compensated.
At the same time, AI developers gain access to high-quality, privacy-compliant datasets without the regulatory and ethical risks associated with traditional data collection. This creates a more inclusive AI ecosystem, where innovation is driven by user participation and consent rather than data monopolies.
This isn’t just a new business model—it’s a fundamental shift in how AI interacts with data.
What challenges have you faced in gaining adoption for blockchain-based AI privacy solutions, and how are you overcoming them?
One of the biggest challenges has been education—many users and developers are unfamiliar with privacy-enhancing cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge proofs and secure computation. We plan to overcome this by making our platform intuitive and accessible, so that people don’t need deep technical knowledge to benefit from it.
Another challenge is regulatory uncertainty. Privacy laws are evolving rapidly, and companies that fail to adapt will struggle. Instead of waiting for regulations to catch up, we’re actively engaging with policymakers to shape the conversation around privacy-first AI.
Finally, there’s a misconception that privacy-preserving AI is slower or less efficient. We’re proving otherwise by optimizing our protocols and demonstrating that AI can be both private and high-performing at scale.
How do you see regulatory developments around AI privacy influencing the adoption of privacy-first AI solutions like yours?
Privacy regulations like GDPR and emerging AI-specific frameworks are validating what we’ve been saying all along—user control over data isn’t just ethical, it’s inevitable.
As compliance requirements become more stringent, businesses will need solutions that bake privacy into the technology itself, rather than relying on reactive fixes. Our privacy-by-design approach ensures that AI developers can meet evolving legal standards seamlessly, making us a preferred alternative to outdated data collection models.
Regulators are also becoming more sophisticated about privacy-enhancing technologies. We expect to see policies that actively encourage decentralized AI, making solutions like ours not just preferable, but necessary.
Please tell us more about yourself?
I’m Ashutosh Synghal, Vice President of Engineering at Midcentury Labs Inc. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University, and my expertise lies in AI, cryptography, and decentralized systems.
Before joining Midcentury, I worked at Amazon, where I focused on optimizing checkout workflows and AI-driven personalization strategies. Beyond my technical work, I have been actively involved in AI ethics and data privacy research, particularly in addressing bias in venture capital funding. Recently, I served as a judge at MIT Media Lab’s Sundai.Club Snowstorm Hackathon, evaluating AI-driven privacy solutions designed to give users greater control over their data.
What is Midcentury, who are the brains behind this project, what problems are you solving and what unique solutions are you providing?
Midcentury Labs is tackling one of the biggest challenges in AI today—the fact that over 90% of AI models rely on centralized data repositories, leaving individuals with little to no control over how their personal information is used. We believe that AI can be powerful without being invasive, and we’re proving that through our privacy-first AI ecosystem.
As VP of Engineering, I lead the development of decentralized, privacy-preserving solutions that eliminate the outdated trade-off between privacy and AI innovation. Our platform integrates advanced cryptographic techniques, allowing AI developers to access high-quality datasets while ensuring individuals retain control over their personal information and receive fair compensation.
One of our standout innovations is our consumer-facing application, which enables people to securely link accounts, manage data permissions, and participate in data-sharing quests. This allows users to contribute anonymized insights to AI models in a way that is completely transparent, secure, and rewarding. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
How does your blockchain-powered privacy solution redefine the way AI developers access and train on private datasets securely?
Traditional AI development requires direct access to massive datasets, often stored in centralized repositories that raise privacy concerns and regulatory challenges. We’ve completely reimagined this process by ensuring that data never leaves the control of its owners while still allowing AI models to train on aggregated insights.
With our approach, AI developers can build powerful models without accessing raw data. Instead, they interact with privacy-preserving computations that extract useful patterns without exposing sensitive information. Our blockchain infrastructure provides a verifiable, tamper-proof ledger of all data interactions, ensuring that every transaction is accountable and auditable. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
A unique feature we plan to introduce is data-sharing quests, where users voluntarily contribute specific, anonymized data points in exchange for compensation or AI-powered insights. This model is particularly valuable in sensitive fields like healthcare, finance, and personalized recommendations, where privacy protection is critical.
By decentralizing AI data access, we are making AI development more ethical, scalable, and future-proof.
What role do zero-knowledge proofs and trusted execution environments play in ensuring AI model training remains private and decentralized?
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and trusted execution environments (TEEs) are essential components of our privacy framework, ensuring that AI can learn from data without exposing sensitive information.
ZKPs allow AI models to prove that computations have been performed correctly without revealing the underlying data. This means that AI developers can verify that their models are learning the right patterns without ever accessing personal information. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
TEEs, on the other hand, create isolated, secure processing environments where computations can be executed without risk of unauthorized access. Even in the unlikely event of a system compromise, data inside a TEE remains protected. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
By integrating ZKPs, TEEs, and blockchain technology, we are enabling AI models to train transparently, securely, and without centralized gatekeepers—a major leap forward for privacy-preserving AI.
What sets Midcentury Labs apart from other AI privacy solutions currently in development, and how do you plan to scale this technology?
Midcentury Labs stands apart because we address the entire AI data lifecycle, from data ownership and governance to privacy-preserving model training and incentive mechanisms for data contributors. Most privacy-focused AI solutions only solve for one part of the equation, but we are building a fully integrated system where privacy is preserved at every stage. Revolutionizing AI Data Privacy with Blockchain
Scaling this technology requires a strategic, multi-phase approach. We are first focusing on partnerships in high-value industries like healthcare and finance, where privacy concerns are highest. We are also implementing a modular system architecture that allows developers to integrate privacy-first AI components seamlessly. To drive adoption, we are launching developer SDKs and APIs, making it easy for AI teams to integrate privacy-enhancing technologies without disrupting their workflows. Our ultimate vision is to create a scalable, decentralized AI ecosystem that unlocks billions in data value while setting a new ethical standard for AI.
With your platform launching later this year, what key milestones and partnerships should we watch for in the near future?
This is going to be a transformative year for Midcentury Labs. We are planning to roll out partnerships with leading AI development firms, bringing them into our privacy-first data marketplace as early adopters. The public beta of our consumer application is also launching soon, giving individuals the ability to take full control of their data and monetize it in a secure and ethical way.
We are also initiating a joint research initiative to measure the impact of privacy-preserving AI techniques on model accuracy and efficiency. This will provide valuable insights into how privacy-enhancing technologies can drive better AI outcomes. Additionally, we are launching a developer grant program to encourage the growth of an ecosystem of privacy-first AI applications.
Beyond technology, we are also unveiling our governance framework, which will bring together privacy advocates, AI researchers, and industry leaders to ensure that Midcentury Labs evolves in a transparent and ethically responsible way. This isn’t just another AI product launch—it’s the beginning of a global movement toward ethical, privacy-first AI, and we are leading the charge.
