Seattle tech entrepreneur Jesse Proudman is making waves again with his latest venture, Venice.ai, an AI-driven platform focused on privacy and uncensored chats. Positioned as an alternative to mainstream AI services like OpenAI and Anthropic, Venice aims to provide a secure, unfiltered AI experience that does not store user data.
Launched last year, Venice operates similarly to ChatGPT and Claude but stands apart through its commitment to user privacy. Unlike many AI models that log and retain user prompts and responses, Venice employs a privacy-first architecture that ensures no data is stored on its servers.
“Think about it as private ChatGPT,” Proudman explained in an interview with GeekWire. “Nothing that goes in or comes out of the models is logged or retained in any way by Venice.”
In addition to its privacy features, Venice removes many of the content restrictions seen in mainstream AI platforms, allowing users to engage with AI in an unfiltered manner.
“There’s an ideological belief here that people should have private and uncensored access to machine intelligence,” said Venice COO Teana Baker-Taylor. “Your interactions shouldn’t be permanently attached to your identity.”
A Growing User Base and Unique Business Model
Venice has already attracted over 850,000 registered users, with more than 50,000 daily active users. The app is free to use but offers a premium subscription at $18 per month for unlimited prompts and additional features.
Unlike other AI platforms that rely solely on traditional payment models, Venice has integrated cryptocurrency incentives into its API access. Users can stake Venice’s proprietary token, VVV, to gain a share of the platform’s compute capacity. This innovative approach allows users to access the API without paying per request, aligning with the decentralized ethos of its leadership team.
“There are many companies that let you run these models via an API, but they’re all based on U.S. dollar pay-per-use,” said Proudman. “Venice is the first to tie token ownership to a share of an aggregate compute network.
Proudman, a seasoned entrepreneur, has a track record of building successful startups. He previously founded Blue Box, a cloud computing company later acquired by IBM, and later launched Makara, a crypto investment startup that was sold to Betterment in 2022. Venice CEO Erik Voorhees, a longtime friend and crypto industry veteran, was formerly the CEO of ShapeShift and has been a vocal advocate for financial privacy and decentralization.
Voorhees has been outspoken about his concerns with mainstream AI censorship. In a blog post introducing Venice, he criticized what he called “weird, creepy, paternalistic censorship” in leading AI platforms.
“We don’t believe the thoughts you develop in your mind are our business to regulate and censor,” he wrote. “It follows that we don’t believe the thoughts you develop with the help of a machine mind are our business to regulate and censor, either.”
Balancing Freedom to uncensored chats with Responsible AI Use
While Venice prioritizes an unfiltered AI experience, the platform still implements safeguards to prevent abuse and illegal activity. Proudman emphasized that Venice’s system prompt instructs models to “speak freely” while maintaining responsible AI use.
“This allows the model to provide unbiased and uncensored responses while still maintaining necessary safety measures,” he explained.
The company is currently bootstrapped and operates with a team of about 20 employees, including four based in Seattle. Alongside Proudman and Voorhees, COO Baker-Taylor brings extensive experience from the crypto and banking sectors, having previously held leadership roles at Circle, Crypto.com, and Binance.
With a strong privacy-first stance and a unique blockchain-powered business model, Venice.ai is setting itself apart in the competitive AI landscape. As concerns over AI censorship and data privacy continue to grow, Venice is positioning itself as a leading alternative for users seeking more control and security in their AI interactions.
