—An in-depth interview with Jessie Zhang, Head of Incubation and Investment at ZetaChain

When the blockchain industry begins to ponder "what's next," AI almost inevitably becomes a topic of conversation. But for Jessie Zhang, this is not merely an aggregation of technologies, but a long-term struggle concerning privacy, cognitive sovereignty, and the ability of humans to think independently.

As a core contributor to ZetaChain, Jessie is at the intersection of infrastructure, product incubation investment, and long-term strategy. In 2025, after ZetaChain achieved a milestone, she decided to launch a seemingly "atypical blockchain product"—Anuma, a privacy AI platform built around a "private memory layer."

In this interview, we begin with a retrospective of ZetaChain's plans for 2025, ultimately touching upon a more fundamental question:

In a world reshaped by large-scale models, can humanity still maintain truly independent thinking?

Starting with cross-chain technology: ZetaChain 2025

PANews: Many people first became aware of ZetaChain through the keyword "cross-chain". If you were to briefly summarize what ZetaChain is doing, how would you summarize it, and what progress have you made in 2025?

Jessie:

For ZetaChain, 2025 is actually a transition process "from laying the foundation to exerting its strength".

From the very beginning, we've focused on interoperability. We're not just building bridges; we're creating a universal blockchain that natively connects all chains. Our goal is to allow developers to avoid having to deploy and maintain logic separately for each chain, and instead provide one-time coverage across different ecosystems like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

By 2025, we had achieved native connectivity with multiple mainstream public blockchains, supporting cross-chain asset and contract calls, and our user base and the number of ecosystem projects had also grown significantly. More importantly, ZetaChain is no longer just a "technical concept," but a proven infrastructure capable of supporting real-world applications.

But at this stage, we begin to raise a more complex question:

If "connecting everything" is just a means, then what do we really want to protect and empower?

As AI becomes powerful enough, the risks also become real enough.

PANews: Why did you start thinking about the combination of blockchain and AI in the middle of last year? What was the opportunity?

Jessie:

The core logic stems from our vigilance regarding the development trend of AI and our commitment to privacy.

First, we see AI shifting from an "efficiency tool" to "cognitive centralization," and from "information centralization" to "cognitive centralization." The middle of last year marked a turning point, with approximately 80% of high-value AI interaction data globally rapidly concentrating in the hands of a very few leading platforms. In May 2025, a US court ordered OpenAI to retain all ChatGPT user chat logs , including deleted logs and sensitive chat logs recorded through its API services, further highlighting the brutal nature of this "digital centralization."

The captured data goes far beyond simple natural language interactions, encompassing your intentions, emotions, decision-making context, and long-term user preferences.

In the past, we have witnessed the cost of data misuse: for example, Facebook manipulated the information flow through algorithms, influencing the course of the presidential election without the user's knowledge; travel or food delivery platforms used data to create precise profiles, engaging in "price discrimination" or "big data price discrimination" against frequent users, making fair competition disappear behind the algorithms; and even on social media, algorithms created "information cocoons," making the world seen by different groups completely fragmented.

But large-scale models are more insidious than these social networks or search engines. They don't just mislead you at the consumer level; they deeply intervene in your thought process. When you ask AI for assistance in decision-making, you can hardly tell whether its response is neutral or subtly manipulated by commercial interests or algorithmic bias. When a system gradually "understands" you better than you do and begins to shape your judgment in reverse, the boundaries of independent thinking become blurred. This is the systemic risk we fear.

The second reason comes from our own genes and long-term selection.

Ankur Nandwani, co-founder of the Brave privacy browser and a key contributor to BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), is also a core contributor to ZetaChain. Today, Brave's monthly revenue exceeds $10 million, while Signal, another instant messaging application in the privacy space, boasts 70 million monthly active users. These facts consistently validate one point: privacy is not a niche need, but a long-underestimated yet undeniably essential requirement.

We have always believed that privacy will not be weakened in the AI era, but rather amplified. When AI deeply intervenes in cognition, decision-making, and behavior, data sovereignty and the boundaries of its use will no longer be just technical issues, but fundamental issues concerning individual freedom and social structure.

It is against this backdrop that we began to systematically consider whether there exists an infrastructure for LLM that can reintroduce data sovereignty, verifiability, and decentralization into the AI system without sacrificing AI capabilities. This is also the fundamental reason why we consider blockchain and AI together.

Why blockchain remains the answer

PANews: Many people think that "AI privacy" is a Web2 issue. Why do you think blockchain is the key?

Jessie:

Of all technologies, only blockchain naturally solves the three core challenges of ownership, tamper-proof proof, and trustless system design.

AI companies can promise "we do no evil," but the philosophy of blockchain is: you don't even need to trust me.

We are increasingly convinced that privacy is not a feature, but an architectural choice. Cognitive sovereignty is not guaranteed by terms, but enforced by technology.

The creation of Anuma, and why it is defined as a "privacy memory layer".

Jessie:

Anuma was created to solve the core paradox we just mentioned: we want AI to be "intelligent" but we don't want AI to be "manipulative".

The current AI logic is: if you want it to be more intelligent and understand you better, you must feed it massive amounts of context and individual...

Information. As the interaction deepens, these fragmented pieces of information will gradually piece together a "memory layer" about your true self. You can try asking the AI, "What kind of person am I in your eyes?" You'll find that its answers are often surprisingly accurate. This shows that it has mastered your mental model.

The problem is that this "memory layer" is now hosted on the servers of a tech giant.

Anuma's starting point is not "anti-AI," but "anti-monopoly." We believe that since "memory" is an inevitable product of AI evolution, it should not naturally belong to any particular platform. This memory should be held by you, controlled by you, and can be taken away by you at any time.

We define Anuma as a "privacy memory layer," aiming to safeguard humanity's cognitive sovereignty as the last line of defense in a highly intelligent future. Our goal is to ensure that data, while continuously generating value and empowering us, no longer becomes a weapon that alienates and attacks us.

What are the features of Anuma?

PANews: How would you introduce Anuma to the average person? What are its core functionalities?

Jessie:

In short, Anuma is an AI personal butler who will never divulge secrets. The most remarkable thing about this butler is that he doesn't work alone; he comes with a whole team of "AI assistants" to serve you. If you compare large models like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to top expert assistants from different fields, then Anuma is the reassuring butler who oversees everything, knows all your secrets, and keeps them completely confidential.

This architecture addresses two core pain points in the current use of AI:

First, it acts as your "cognitive firewall": all sensitive information and historical memories are locked away in the hands of Anuma. When he dispatches his assistants to do tasks, he ensures that your privacy is not "stolen" for model training. This means that AI can become smarter, but your raw data will never leave your control.
Secondly, it acts as your "memory synchronizer": When you instruct the assistant to switch to a different "assistant" to handle a problem, the conversation memory is completely inherited. You don't need to switch between different apps, nor do you need to repeat your background information to each new assistant. The assistant will help each assistant "synchronize progress," so no matter who you switch to, it will always understand you like an old friend.

In terms of user experience, what you see is a minimalist and natural dialogue interface; but at the underlying level, we have used technical means to piece together the digital sovereignty that was originally scattered in the hands of giants and returned it to the user.

Human independent thinking still deserves to be defended.

PANews: Why do you repeatedly emphasize "autonomy of the human mind" at the brand level?

Jessie:

We believe this is an underestimated crisis. As AI increasingly resembles a "second brain," people are more likely to abandon critical thinking and outsource their judgment.

If this "second brain" doesn't truly belong to you, then you are essentially handing over your right to think to a system that you cannot audit.

Anuma's bottom line is that your memories, your context, and your thought history should be your private property—not the platform's, not the model's, and not the advertising system's.

I believe AI will become one of humanity's most important tools. But that's contingent on humans remaining masters of their own thoughts.

From ZetaChain to Anuma, the extension of blockchain in the Web2 world

PANews: What are your thoughts on the relationship between ZetaChain and Anuma?

Jessie:

Anuma is the flagship product of ZetaChain's move towards its 2.0 phase and its full embrace of AI. I believe there's a relationship between the two: "the underlying technology drives the application, and the application defines the value." Internally, we didn't simply define Anuma as a "Web3-only" product; it's built entirely according to Web2's 2C standards and user experience. But at the same time, it's entirely built on top of ZetaChain.

This is the direction we believe Web3 should take: infrastructure that is invisible, yet whose value is irreplaceable. Only when users no longer perceive the existence of the "chain" but only experience "better usability and greater security" services will Web3 truly move towards large-scale application.

end

At the end of the interview, Jessie said, "The real danger is not how smart AI becomes, but that humanity unknowingly relinquishes the steering wheel of decision-making without realizing it."

Perhaps Anuma is more than just an AI product.

It's more like a reminder:

In a highly intelligent world, maintaining independent thinking is itself a capability that needs to be protected by technology.

Data: USDC circulation increased by about 700 million in the past 7 days

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