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

As the blockchain field begins to ponder "what's next," AI has almost become a mandatory topic of discussion. But for Jessie Zhang, this is not just a technological overlay; it is a long-term struggle concerning privacy, cognitive sovereignty, and human independent thinking.

As a core contributor to ZetaChain, Jessie stands at the intersection of infrastructure, product incubation investment, and long-term strategy. In 2025, after reaching a milestone, ZetaChain decided to launch what seems to be a "non-typical blockchain product"—Anuma, a privacy AI platform built around a "private memory layer."

In this interview, we start with a review of ZetaChain's 2025 and ultimately touch on a more fundamental question:

In a world reshaped by large models, can humans still maintain true independent thinking?

Starting with Cross-Chain: ZetaChain in 2025

PANews: Many people recognize ZetaChain from the keyword "cross-chain." If you were to summarize what ZetaChain is doing, how would you do it, and what progress have you made by 2025?

Jessie:

For ZetaChain, 2025 is actually a transition from "laying the foundation to gaining momentum."

From the very beginning, we focused on interoperability. We are not just building bridges; we are creating a universal blockchain that can natively connect all chains. Our goal is to allow developers to cover Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other different ecosystems without having to deploy and maintain logic for each chain separately.

By 2025, we have achieved native connections with multiple mainstream public chains, supporting cross-chain assets and contract calls, and the user base and number of ecosystem projects have significantly increased. More importantly, ZetaChain is no longer just a "technical concept," but a validated infrastructure capable of supporting real applications.

However, at this stage, we began to pose a more complex question:

If "connecting everything" is merely a means, what is it that we truly want to protect and empower?

When AI Becomes Powerful Enough, Risks Become Real Enough

PANews: Why did you start thinking about the combination of blockchain and AI since mid-last year? What prompted this?

Jessie:

The core logic comes from our vigilance regarding AI development trends and our insistence on privacy.

First, we see AI shifting from "efficiency tools" to "cognitive centralization," from "information centralization" to "cognitive centralization." Mid-last year was a turning point, as about 80% of high-value AI interaction data was rapidly concentrated in a few leading platforms. In May 2025, a U.S. court ordered OpenAI to retain all ChatGPT user chat logs, including deleted chat logs and sensitive chat logs recorded through its API services, which made us acutely aware of the brutality of this "digital centralization."

The data captured has long surpassed simple natural language interactions; it encompasses your intentions, emotions, decision-making context, and long-term user preferences.

We have already witnessed the costs of data misuse: for example, Facebook manipulated information flows through algorithms, influencing the outcome of presidential elections without users being aware; travel or food delivery platforms used data for precise profiling, subjecting high-frequency users to "price discrimination" or "big data killing familiarity," erasing fair competition behind algorithms; even on social media, algorithms shape "information cocoons," completely severing the worlds seen by different groups.

But large models are more insidious than these social networks or search engines. They do not just mislead you at the consumption end; they deeply intervene in your thought process. When you request AI assistance in decision-making, you can hardly judge whether its answers are neutral or subtly manipulated by commercial interests or algorithmic biases. When a system gradually understands you better than you do and begins to shape your judgments in reverse, the boundaries of independent thinking become blurred. This is the systemic risk we are concerned about.

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

Ankur Nandwani, co-founder of the Brave privacy browser $BAT, is also a core contributor to ZetaChain. Today, Brave's monthly revenue has exceeded $10 million, and another privacy-focused instant messaging application, Signal, has reached 70 million monthly active users. These facts continuously validate one point: privacy is not a niche demand but a long-underestimated, yet always existing, necessity.

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

It is against this backdrop that we began to systematically consider: Is there an infrastructure for LLMs that can reintroduce data sovereignty, verifiability, and decentralization into the AI system without sacrificing AI capabilities? This is also the fundamental reason we are thinking about blockchain and AI together.

Why Blockchain is Still the Answer

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

Jessie:

Among all technologies, only blockchain inherently addresses the three core challenges of ownership, immutability proof, and trustless system design.

AI companies can promise "we won't do evil," but the philosophy of blockchain is: you don't even need to believe me.

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

The Birth of Anuma and Why It is Defined as a "Privacy Memory Layer"

Jessie:

The birth of Anuma is actually to solve the core paradox we just mentioned: we want the "intelligence" of AI but do not want the "manipulation" of AI.

The current AI logic is: if you want it to be smarter and understand you better, you must feed it massive amounts of context and information. As interactions deepen, these fragmented pieces of information gradually piece together a "memory layer" about your true self. You can try asking AI, "What kind of person am I in your eyes?" You will find that its answers are often surprisingly accurate. This indicates that it has mastered your thinking model.

But the problem is that this "memory layer" is currently hosted on the servers of giants.

The starting point of Anuma is not "anti-AI" but "anti-monopoly." We believe that since "memory" is an inevitable product of AI evolution, it should not inherently belong to any platform. This memory should be owned and controlled by you, and you should be able to take it with you at any time.

We define Anuma as a "privacy memory layer" to safeguard cognitive sovereignty as the last line of defense for humanity in a highly intelligent future. What we want to achieve is to allow data to continuously generate value and empower you while no longer becoming a weapon that alienates and attacks ourselves.

What Functions Does Anuma Have?

PANews: How would you introduce Anuma to the average person? What core functions has it currently implemented?

Jessie:

In simple terms, Anuma is an AI personal assistant that will never betray you. The most impressive aspect of this assistant is that it is not just one person working hard; it will bring an entire "AI assistant" to serve you. If we compare large models like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to top expert assistants from different fields, then Anuma is the one who coordinates everything, knows all your secrets, yet keeps them confidential.

This architecture addresses two core pain points in current AI usage:

• First, it is your "cognitive firewall": all sensitive information and historical memories are locked away with the assistant (Anuma). When it sends little assistants to do work, it ensures that your privacy is not "stolen" for model training. This means AI can become smarter, but your raw data will never leave your control.

• Second, it is your "memory synchronizer": when you instruct the assistant to switch to a different "assistant" to handle a problem, the conversation memory is fully retained. You do not need to jump between different apps, nor do you need to repeat your background information to each new assistant. The assistant will help synchronize progress for each assistant, so no matter who you engage, they will always understand you like an old friend.

In terms of experience, what you see is just a minimalist, natural conversation interface; but at the underlying level, we use technical means to piece together the digital sovereignty that was originally scattered among giants and return it to the users.

Human Independent Thinking is Still Worth Defending

PANews: Why do you repeatedly emphasize "the 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 prone to abandon thinking and outsource their judgment.

If this "second brain" does not truly belong to you, then you are essentially handing over your thinking rights to a system you cannot audit.

The bottom line that Anuma wants to protect is: your memory, your context, your thinking 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 the premise is that humans remain the masters of their own thinking.

From ZetaChain to Anuma: The Extension of Blockchain in the Web2 World

PANews: How do you view the relationship between ZetaChain and Anuma?

Jessie:

Anuma is the flagship implementation of ZetaChain's transition to stage 2.0, fully embracing the AI narrative. I see a relationship of "underlying driving applications, applications defining value" between the two: internally, we have not simply defined Anuma as a "Web3 exclusive" product; it is built entirely according to Web2's 2C standards and user experience. But at the same time, it is entirely based on ZetaChain.

This is the direction we believe Web3 should take: infrastructure should be invisible, but value should be irreplaceable. Only when users no longer perceive the existence of the "chain" but only feel "better and safer" services can Web3 truly move towards large-scale application.

Epilogue

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

Perhaps, Anuma is not just an AI product.

It is more like a reminder:

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

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