Deep Projects (DP) is a grant program by SingularityNET that empowers AI developers and innovators, distributing funds to community-selected projects to foster the development of new AI applications to be onboarded in the Foundation’s decentralized AI platform. These grants, which do not require repayment or shares, aim to shift control from a few large companies to a more open and democratic AI ecosystem.

Deep Projects Is A Community-Driven Program. 

Community members can ask questions, offer feedback, and participate in the selection of the awarded proposals, either directly, through voting, or indirectly by 'Community Experts' that represent the wider community. By answering any questions promptly and concisely you will nurture a healthy dialog that may benefit you and your proposal. Please treat all feedback with due respect based on the premise that the community is here to help you and improve the quality of our program. 

Any Proposed Project Should Support The Mission And Vision Of SingularityNET. 

The purpose of SingularityNET is to drive the development of benevolent, democratic, inclusive Artificial General Intelligence. This means that all proposals are welcome:

• Deliberately aim for beneficial outcomes, or offer a utility that has the potential to be used for beneficial outcomes.
• Take measures to minimize the chances of detrimental outcomes.

For more information about the goals of Deep Projects, please read: https://deepfunding.ai/funding-with-purpose-growth-strategy/ The BEST Round Proposals have:

• A good value proposition and market fit (convincing market research is a plus)
• Support from a complete and professional team (including all needed roles to develop and roll out)
• Explicit ethical standards and rules
• A business case that has a good prospect of generating high-value / high-quantity API calls

The BEST RFP proposals follow all conditions stated in the RFP and have:

• A capable team with demonstrable expertise and experience in the given field
• A detailed description of the proposed soplution
• A clear solution to all 'Must-haves', as well as any 'Should haves' and 'Could haves' specified in the RFP descriptions.

Work Ethos. In general, we expect the teams to be cooperative and communicative on their projects toward the SingularityNET community and the Foundation. Likewise, the Deep Projects team will have a constructive and cooperative attitude in guiding the teams, supporting our shared goal of making the project a success and driving utility to the platform. Teams are expected to be self-reliant and independently handle the tasks necessary to complete their milestones. They are responsible for executing and delivering milestones without direct support from SNET or DF personnel resources, unless previously in agreement. 

Each RFP defines its own set of rules and guidelines, and comes with its own timeline. Important criteria are the maximum amount that is available per project, and the timeline during which the RFP is open for submissions. 

In the detailed description of the RFP, you will find other conditions, often specified as 'Must haves' 'Should haves' and 'Could Haves'. Also non-functional requirements may be defined, such as conditions on performance, documentation, security, etc.

Be sure to read all conditions in the RFP carefully, especially if you are submitting a proposal to multiple RFPs. 

“Building a Compassionate and Abundant Future” This grant program is an initiative within the BGI Nexus project in SingularityNET that empowers AI developers and innovators. Funds will be distributed to community-selected projects to foster the development of beneficial AI applications and initiatives that align with SingularityNET’s vision for beneficial AI and AGI.  These grants, which do not require repayment or shares, aim to shift the locus of AI and AGI development from large companies focused on economic ends to a more open and democratic AI ecosystem, and create real solutions for real-world problems. Through these grants, we aim to contribute to a diverse ecology of AI that benefits life and contributes to the flourishing of humans, societies, and the biosphere. Award The total funding available for BGI Nexus Round 1 is $500,000 in token, with a max cap of $50,000 USD per project.

Note: Being the first test round of the new BGI Nexus funding program, and the first partner round on the Deep Projects platform, there are many unknowns. Therefore, some program parameters may need to be adjusted in response to how the grant round progress unfolds. The review and selection process will be refined as the round progresses to be in line with the demands of the round and the number of proposals. In-progress changes will be minimized as far as possible, and any changes will be clearly communicated at the earliest possible opportunity to the entire community via email and announcement channels; participants are responsible for monitoring these channels and receiving all updates.

BGI Nexus is a community-centered funding program

Community members can ask questions, offer feedback, and participate in the selection of the awarded proposals, either directly through voting or indirectly by 'Community Experts' who represent the wider community. As a proposer, by answering any questions from the community (or from the coordinating team) promptly and concisely, you will nurture a healthy dialogue that may benefit you and your proposal. Please treat all feedback with due respect, based on the premise that the community is here to help you and improve the quality of our program and outcomes of BGI development.

Any proposed project must support the mission and vision of the BGI Nexus

The purpose of the BGI Nexus is to foster discussions, share resources, and provide funding for developing beneficial AI, AGI, and other impactful technologies that benefit life and contribute to the flourishing of humans, societies, and the biosphere.  This means that all proposals are welcome that:

• Deliberately aim for social and environmental good
• Take measures to minimize the chances of detrimental outcomes in line with a strong approach to safety and ethics

“Social or environmental good” is defined as outcomes that include:

• Technical solutions to the poly-crisis:
  • E.g. environmental and regenerative technologies; social technologies that provide solutions to key challenges such as logistics or coordination; educational technologies.
• Contributions to AI and AGI that specifically aim at solutions to prevent AGI harms or proactively seek out beneficial outcomes:
  • E.g. safety monitoring solutions, or components that maximize the chances of positive and compassionate behavior in AGI systems)
• Technical projects for social benefit such as increasing equality, diversity, and inclusion in the AI and AGI space.

Other beneficial outcomes not listed here, can be considered by expert reviewers. However, the beneficial component should not be an add-on but a central goal of the project. It should also have a strong AI component. While not mandatory in this special round, proposals aiming to onboard onto or utilize AI services on the SNET decentralized marketplace are particularly welcome! For now, we are not considering areas unrelated to AI and AGI projects, though the initiative may expand into more general areas at some time in the future if there are sufficient resources to do so. For more information about the goals of BGI Nexus, please read:  https://bgicollective.singularitynet.io/ Round proposals MUST:

• Be centered around social or environmental good, with clear applicability to real-world problems
• Contain an impact proposition, with such topics as breadth of impact (impact at an individual, community, or global level), and depth of impact (how profound the impact to abundance, flourishing, regeneration, etc). Convincing impact research is a plus.
• Be technical in nature - building and delivering AI systems that address societal and environmental needs, and impactfully solve real-world problems. 
• Address how they handle ethical considerations, particularly for technologies, such as facial recognition or anything handling user data, that could have a significant societal impact
• Describe a safety plan throughout the milestones. This will be monitored by reviewers and will be a factor in decisions around the disbursement of funds for milestones.

Proposer teams MUST:

• Have a complete and professional set of members - including all needed roles to develop and roll out.
• Maintain communication with the DF program, and join the designated Telegram Channel as this will be the official announcement channel for this Round.
• Execute project milestones independently, without direct support from SingularityNET or Deep Projects personnel unless otherwise agreed.
• Be resourced to complete their first milestone, as disbursement for the milestone is only released upon completion and review approval.

The Process

Submission

Proposals must be submitted through the Deep Projects submission portal, which enforces strict guidelines, including mandatory fields and character limits, to encourage succinctness. Expert Reviewers may, or may not, contact proposers through comments to provide eligibility feedback based on the requirements of the round.

Review

The review process will span for 4 weeks. Technical experts and BGI community reviewers will assess projects for eligibility and quality. At any time, teams may be requested to attend a live, recorded meeting with reviewers to discuss or clarify any queries related to their proposal.

BGI Community Reviews

The BGI Expert Reviewers will assess proposals for eligibility, and subjectively assess the quality - Impact and Innovation - of each eligible proposal.   BGI expert reviewers will be volunteers from the BGI community. The reviewers’ goal is to create a brief report on each proposal and give it a score.  The process involves several groups of experts meeting to review and rate proposals together over some characteristics:

• Does it conform to the round theme? (BGI: social or environmental impact, or contributing to Beneficial AI Systems) (Yes/No)
• Is it both safe and ethical? (Yes/No)
• Impact (score out of 10)
• Innovation (score out of 10)

Reviewers and proposals will be matched broadly according to reviewers’ expertise. The exact distribution of reviewers will be determined by the number of submitted proposals and reviewers.

Technical reviews

After the BGI community reviewers complete their evaluations, proposals that receive a score of 7 or above will proceed to the Deep Projects Technical Review Team for further assessment. This team will evaluate proposals based on two key criteria:

• Feasibility – Is the project technically achievable?
• Team Capability – Does the proposing team have the necessary skills, experience, and capacity to successfully complete the project?

Each proposal will be reviewed by an Expert Reviewer, who will provide a concise report outlining their assessment and final decision: Approved or Rejected.

Appeal

Once the technical review report is delivered by e-mail, the proposing team has 48 hours to submit an appeal via email if they believe the decision was unfair based on technical grounds. The appeal must specifically address the points raised by the reviewer and provide clear reasoning to contest the judgment. Upon receiving an appeal, a new set of two Expert Reviewers will reassess the proposal, including: 

• The original submission
• The technical review report
• The appeal statement

The final decision will be determined by majority rule: if at least two out of the three assigned reviewers (including the original reviewer) reach the same conclusion, that decision stands. If the number of proposals in the round deviates significantly from what is expected, this process may be adapted. If this happens, the core Nexus team will decide on the best approach given the circumstances. The team will give a clear explanation of the final process and the reasoning behind it for transparency.

Interviews

If needed, interviews will be held with proposers and conducted by reviewers. Expert reviewers reserve the right, at any moment during the Review period, to request a live and recorded online meeting with the proposer team to confirm their technical ability to deliver the solutions they are proposing. After the interview, the reviewers will produce a report with their findings and will signal whether the proposal should be included in or excluded from the round. If a team cannot attend such a call during the week after the AI Review week, it will be disqualified from the selection process.

Proposals Awareness Week

This week serves as a platform for proposers - who have successfully passed both the BGI Community Reviews and Technical Expert Reviews - to present their projects to the broader community, articulate their value propositions, and encourage informed voting decisions. Effective engagement during this period can significantly enhance visibility and support for proposals before the voting phase begins. Some suggested strategies for creating the desired awareness are:

• Share key information about your proposal on platforms such as X, LinkedIn, and Facebook, ensuring clarity and accessibility.
• Utilize relevant hashtags, such as #DeepFunding and #ProposalAwareness, to maximize reach.
• Actively participate in discussions, addressing questions, clarifying doubts, and engaging with potential voters.
• Host an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Mattermost, Discord, or X Spaces to engage directly with the community and address inquiries.
• Create a concise video presentation (3 minutes tops) summarizing the proposal and its anticipated impact, to be displayed on your proposal's page on Deep Projects Portal, and / or shared on your social media
• Design infographics that communicate key aspects of the proposal in a visually engaging format.

Voting

The final selection will be based on a combination of BGI community reviewer scores and a Web2 community vote. The exact voting platform has yet to be determined. The community vote will be weighted at 60%, while the reviewer scores will be worth 40% of the final score.

Timeline

10 - 24 February: Open for submissions 24 February - 24 March: Review period 24 - 31 March: Proposal awareness week 31 March - 7 April: Voting 07 - 14 April: Vote count WC 21 April: Winners announced!

Our portal offers a step-by-step proposal creation flow for proposals. The flows are similar in structure but have different questions and fields depending on the type of proposal. What you need to have available for completing your proposal is:

• The name of your project
• A summary text of your project
• The required budget
• A detailed description of your proposal
• A breakdown with a description and budget for each milestone
• Names and email addresses of your team members so you can invite them to the portals and have them added to the project detail page.

(Depending on the RFP or pool additional questions can be asked.) You can start and pause the proposal creation at any time and your changes will be saved after clicking 'Finish Later'. NB: As long as the RFP or Round is 'Open for submission', proposal details are only visible to you, your team members, and Deep Projects admins / selected reviewers. During this phase, all other visitors will only see the main attributes, including the proposal's title, summary, and owner. When the submission period is completed, the proposal will be published in full to all visitors. The portal gives specific guardrails and restrictions for submitting a proposal in terms of required fields and maximum character counts. The goal is to make proposals from different teams easier to compare and efficient to evaluate. Both by experts and regular community members. Please take time to explain your proposal as well as possible within the given character constraints. The shorter the text the more important the choice of words is. This is especially the case for the project title and summary. They will determine whether a visitor will be motivated to click and read through the details of your proposal, so give them the attention they deserve.  

Legal and finance: 

Funds will be disbursed in tokens. Before any disbursement can be made we will ask you to sign a contract that states the rules and conditions in a legally binding way. 

Communication Channel

Team leads are invited to the 'awarded Teams Channel on our 'Mattermost' communication portal. This is an important source for official information as well as an opportunity to get in touch with other awarded team members.  

Milestone Payment 

Disbursements will be made per milestone and only after the team’s delivered outcome is approved by the Review Circle, following the process specified here and the Circle instructions.

Minimum Exchange Rate

To safeguard the treasury against extreme and temporary downward volatility, we apply a minimum exchange rate of $0.20 USD per token for milestone payments. This serves as an emergency measure that we hope will never be necessary. However, if it is triggered, we will contact you to discuss appropriate next steps together.