Sapien Foundation, the governing body behind the decentralized data foundry for artificial intelligence protocol Sapien AI, said it will generate and distribute tokens for the first time on Aug. 20.

The token generation event (TGE) for SAPIEN will take place on Coinbase’s layer-2 blockchain, Base. The tokens will power the protocol’s decentralized data foundry, which connects demand for high-quality data with a global network of human experts.

Sapien’s system is designed to help AI teams answer two fundamental questions for every decision their models make: «Where did this data come from, and can it be trusted?»

The protocol uses what it calls Proof of Quality in the form of on-chain incentives to make human data traceable and trustworthy, according to CEO Rowan Stone. PoQ employs four integrated mechanisms — staking, validation, reputation and incentives — to enforce data quality by rewarding contributors who provide reliable information and penalizing those who do not, thereby creating a self-governing model for high-integrity AI training data.

Details of the TGE

The TGE implements a fair launch model comprising an initial unlock of 25% of the total 1 billion tokens.

A portion of the airdrop – 5% of the total supply – will be distributed to early contributors based on their confirmed points. An additional 0.5% of the total will be allocated to the top 10,000 members of its partner community, CookieDAO, with 30% of this allocation unlocked at the TGE.

The Sapien Squad and Discord role holders are also slated to receive a bonus allocation for their participation.

The token launch is backed by a series of significant developments, including over 30 enterprise clients and a new partnership with Coinbase’s Embedded Wallets feature, designed to provide a frictionless on-chain experience for the protocol’s user base.

Following the TGE, the protocol plans to formalize partnerships with Billions and Intuition, forming one of the largest mindshare cohorts in the AI space.

Sapien’s management team includes Stone, a co-creator of Base, and Trevor Koverko, founder of Polymath. It is backed by leading investors including Variant, Primitive Ventures, Yield Guild Games (YGG) and Orange DAO through its $10.5 million seed round.