Protocol Explainer
ABC “Beacon” User Guide
The official manual for coordinating and funding public-facing AI alignment research.
1. Core Concepts
What is ABC Beacon?
An on-chain infrastructure to curate and fund AI safety research. It solves the “signal crisis” by paying Verifiers to audit research claims and create objective, verifiable reputation scores. Find the voter application here: ABC App, our Alignment Research Application here: ARA App , and an example below.
2. Authority Score & Tiers
How It Works
Your Authority Score is a verifiable track record of expertise. It is calculated by:
- Activity Points: Earned for correct predictions and completed bounties.
- Conviction Multiplier: 2x bonus for being an “Early Bird” (first 25%).
- Specialization: 1.5x bonus if >70% of your work is in one domain (e.g., Interpretability).
Tiers
Your tier status is automatically determined by your total accumulated Authority Score points.
- Bronze (100-500 pts): Curate papers & view bounties.
- Silver (500-1k pts): Propose new bounties (Stake required).
- Gold (1k-2k pts): Claim bounties for pay & Verified Curator status.
- Platinum (2k-3k pts): Verifier Access (Judge submissions) & Eligible for ASIP Committee.
- Diamond (3k+ pts): Thought Leader status & Automatic Committee consideration.
3. How to Earn (Payouts)
The ABC Protocol pays out ABC Tokens for two types of work:
- Researchers (Doing Work):
When you complete a bounty, the funds held in the smart contract are released to your wallet immediately after Verifiers approve your work. - Verifiers (Checking Work):
Verifiers earn a Verification Fee (typically 1-5% of the bounty size) for reviewing code/results. This fee is automatically deducted from the bounty budget or protocol treasury.
4. For Researchers (Bounties)
Getting Funded
- Propose: Users (Silver+) can create a bounty proposal. Staking 500 ABC is required to prevent spam.
- Claim: Experts (Gold+) can claim active bounties to work on.
- Submit: Upload your evidence (PDF/Code) to IPFS via the “My Bounties” tab.
Strategic Proposal Tiers
To help voters balance risk and reward, all proposals are categorized into three strategic tiers:
- Seed (Micro-Grant):
Budget: < 1,000 ABC. For feasibility studies, lit reviews, or experimental ideas. High risk, low cost. - Growth (Standard):
Budget: 1k – 10k ABC. For prototypes, MVPs, and replicating papers. Requires a proof-of-concept. - Moonshot (Major Grant):
Budget: > 10k ABC. For large-scale infrastructure, auditing suites, or SOTA research. Requires a roadmap and milestones.
5. For Verifiers (Governance)
The Verifier Dashboard
Restricted Access: Only Platinum+ members are eligible. Verifiers are Randomly Summoned by the smart contract to audit specific bounties.
- Selection: 3-5 Verifiers are randomly selected per bounty.
- Review: Inspect code and results from submitted bounties.
- Consensus: Majority (e.g., 3/5) must vote “Approve” to release funds.
- Slashing: Verifiers who vote against the majority maliciously may lose their stake.
6. ASIP Integration
The “Talent Pipeline”
High-performing contributors don’t just earn money; they earn influence.
- Grant Committee: Reaching Platinum Tier makes you eligible to join the ASIP Grant Committee, directing millions in funding.
- Strategic Prioritization: Aggregate data from ABC (e.g., “High quality but low funding in Agent Foundations”) guides ASIP’s $50M strategy.
7. Analytics
Strategic Oversight
Use the Analytics tab to view the “Funds Distributed by Category” and “Impact Efficiency” charts, helping the community identify neglected research areas.
8. Example Scenario
The “Adversarial Robustness” Lifecycle
Here is how a real research project moves through the protocol:
- Proposal: Dr. Aris proposes a “Red Teaming Suite” and stakes 500 ABC.
- Voting: The community votes with their ABC tokens. The proposal passes with 75% approval.
- Submission: After 3 weeks, Dr. Aris uploads the code and test results to IPFS.
- Verification: The contract randomly summons 5 Platinum Verifiers. They review the code and 4/5 vote “Approve”.
- Payout: The smart contract automatically releases the bounty to Dr. Aris and pays the verification fees.