Sports apparel giant Nike (NASDAQ: NKE) is turning its gaze to emerging technology in a valiant effort to pull away from its competitors and improve the state of its offerings for consumers.
Nike is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology into its operations for market efficiency and personalized services to shoppers. The push to embrace next-gen technologies has earned Nike an avalanche of plaudits, but the journey remains fraught with several pitfalls.
The company’s foray with blockchain began in late 2020 when executives turned to distributed ledgers to fight the scourge of counterfeit products. By incorporating blockchain into all layers of its supply chain, Nike adds another layer of protection for its intellectual property while providing novel solutions for individuals to verify original products before a purchase.
Nike’s 2019 rollout of CryptoKicks, an offering for recording shoe purchases on distributed ledgers, is considered an innovative use case for on-chain technologies, laying the foundation for other brands to follow.
“When a consumer buys a genuine pair of shoes, a digital representation of a shoe may be generated, linked with the consumer, and assigned a cryptographic token, where the digital shoe and cryptographic token collectively represent a CryptoKick,” read the patent.
Early use cases with blockchain have pushed the company closer to achieving its sustainability objectives via transparent sourcing and waste management processes.
On the innovative side, Nike has a streak of pushing industry frontiers with Web3 solutions. The company dabbled with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), creating digital replicas of real-world items with impressive use cases.
An attempt to wade into the metaverse and digital collectibles space saw Nike purchase virtual fashion company RTFKT for an undisclosed sum in 2021. While the company has dropped the project after four years, executives say Nike is still exploring the metaverse.
Generative AI to the rescue
Alongside the push for blockchain integration, the Oregon-based company is doubling down on generative AI to improve customer experiences. The recent purchase of Datalogue underscores Nike’s AI ambitions, using consumer data to reel out personalized recommendations for shoppers.
The brand is developing its large language model (LLM) while its advertisement campaigns are pivoting toward AI-based systems. A Nike South Korean ad campaign was rolled out on Naver Corp’s HyperCLOVA X ad platform, and the company increased the size of its AI investments via acquisitions.
Quantum computing threatens Web3 as IT directors brace for impact
As IT directors roll out Web3 strategies to embrace digitization, a report has highlighted a new danger lurking for enterprises wading into blockchain solutions.
According to a report by Noaris Protocol, quantum computing poses the greatest threat to Web3 solutions, with over half of surveyed respondents sharing the same sentiments. Only 3% of IT directors consider quantum computing a far-off threat to enterprise blockchain-based systems, pointing to scalability and regulatory issues.
Developments in quantum computing are proceeding swiftly and can process complex problems faster than classical computers. While the enterprise use cases of quantum computers are vast, bad actors can lean on the innovation to wreak havoc on Web3-based systems.
For starters, quantum computers have been shown to break encryption systems employed by mainstream distributed ledgers. Several researchers opine that if quantum computers lean on Shor’s algorithm, breaking the RSA and ECC encryption systems will be easy in the coming years.
Surveyed respondents say that the leaps in quantum computing pose significant risks to private keys, consensus mechanisms, and smart contracts.
Aware of the perceived threats, respondents are already bracing for impact, experimenting with new defense strategies for their proprietary systems. 94% of IT directors say a mass pivot to decentralized models will offer additional protection against quantum attacks.
The IT executives disclose a growing affinity for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) as underlying security standards for their Web3 solutions. Apart from the security benefits, 26% of respondents are in favor of DePIN-based standards for the economic benefits, noting its affordability over centralized systems.
While the pivot to DePIN continues to gain traction, IT professionals are exploring new encryption systems. Lattice-based cryptography and quantum-resistant ledgers (QRL) are picking up steam in pioneering Web3 circles to address novel challenges stemming from quantum computing innovation.
An avalanche of Web3 strategies
IT firms are unveiling their blueprints for integrating Web3 strategies to improve data storage capabilities and revolutionize supply chain transparency. Others are keen on turning to smart contracts for automation, while some are wading into tokenization use cases with blockchain.
To achieve their ambitious targets, firms are building their Web3 solutions from scratch, but to save costs, smaller enterprises are leaning on partnerships with established blockchain service providers. A common denominator across the firms is the unified push to upskill their workforce with relevant Web3 and emerging technology capabilities.
In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.
