Yupp: An emerging platform reshaping AI assessment models

With the widespread application of artificial intelligence, accurately assessing model performance and enhancing user trust have become pressing issues that need to be addressed. Traditional evaluation methods often rely on centralized mechanisms, making it difficult to cover diverse scenarios and failing to truly reflect user preferences. At the same time, the "hallucination" problem of models occurs frequently, and users often find themselves trapped in information silos when making choices.

In this context, Yupp, as an emerging platform, is attempting to redefine the discovery, comparison, and utilization of AI models through its unique crowdsourcing model and incentive mechanisms, bringing a paradigm shift to the field of AI evaluation. This article will delve into Yupp's core mechanisms, technological highlights, team background, and its potential impact on the AI ecosystem.

Team Background and Financing

Yupp is committed to solving the long-standing evaluation challenges in the AI field, aiming to build a "trustless" AI feedback marketplace. Through blockchain and crypto-economic incentives, the platform allows diverse user feedback to flow freely, creating a scalable, fair, and transparent model evaluation layer. Yupp captures users' real needs and preferences in different scenarios in a timely manner by incentivizing the distribution of high-quality manually labeled data, helping AI developers iterate and optimize model performance.

The project was founded in June 2024 by Pankaj Gupta (Co-founder and CEO) and Gilad Mishne (Co-founder and Head of AI), with Chief Scientist Jimmy Lin (Professor at the University of Waterloo) also involved. The three had previously worked together on a social platform back in 2010, where they built and optimized large-scale recommendation and search systems, later accumulating rich experience at several tech giants.

Yupp's decentralized vision and the concept of data value transparency align perfectly with the dual demands of AI vendors for credible assessment and user participation. Coupled with the rich experience of the core team, Yupp has earned high recognition from well-known figures in the technology industry and top venture capitalists.

Recently, Yupp announced the completion of a $33 million seed round financing, led by a well-known venture capital partner. Other investors include several executives from tech giants, academic authorities, 45 well-known angel investors, and some renowned venture capital institutions.

Core Functions and User Experience

Yupp, as an innovative AI assessment platform, upholds the concept of "AI for Everyone", allowing users to easily discover, compare, and use the latest AI models. Unlike traditional single responses, Yupp returns answers from two (or more) models simultaneously for each prompt, forming an "AI council". This design not only meets users' needs for diverse choices but also effectively identifies potential "hallucinations" that models may exhibit, helping users make more informed decisions through comparison.

The platform currently supports over 500 AI models, covering the fields of text and image generation, including several well-known models and many emerging models. To further optimize the experience, Yupp has also launched the "QuickTake" feature, which can distill lengthy replies into a concise short text.

In addition, Yupp places a high value on user privacy: all chat records are private by default, unless the user chooses to make them public; even when shared publicly, no personal information is disclosed. Users can control the content and scope of sharing at any time.

Economic Model and Incentive Mechanism

Yupp will be free to use combined with user feedback, measuring model usage through the "Yupp Points" system. New users can receive 5000 points upon registration, and can earn more points by scoring model responses, selecting preferences, and explaining their reasons. The higher the quality of feedback, the greater the rewards, ensuring that users can sustainably use some high-end models for free. The platform promises that points will only increase and will not decrease, and all current models can be experienced for free.

Users will receive two model responses after each question and can win "digital scratch cards" through feedback, rewarding Yupp points ranging from 0 to 250. Every 1000 points can be exchanged for 1 dollar, with a maximum daily withdrawal of 10 dollars and a monthly limit of 50 dollars. Points support exchanges for various currencies, with partners including multiple payment platforms. At the same time, the platform integrates certain blockchain networks and stablecoins to provide global users with instant, fee-free rewards.

To encourage more people to participate, Yupp has also established a referral reward mechanism, where both the referrer and the referred can earn additional points.

Yupp VIBE Rating: A New Paradigm for AI Evaluation

To address the issues with the existing leaderboard, Yupp has launched a beta version of the AI leaderboard and the "Yupp VIBE (Vibe Intelligence Benchmark) Score" rating system. This system aggregates preference data generated by global users in natural interactions, aiming to provide robust and reliable assessment results.

Yupp's evaluation principles include robustness and reliability. The platform not only collects binary preferences but also encourages users to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the responses, and conducts cluster analysis based on users' background information to show the preference differences among different groups.

On a technical level, Yupp is exploring the use of blockchain, cryptographic primitives, and zero-knowledge proofs to ensure the fairness, transparency, and verifiability of the evaluation process. At the same time, the platform has partnered with professional AI data providers to ensure data quality through multiple verification mechanisms.

The recent leaderboard has been updated, showcasing the VIBE scores of multiple models and other related metrics.

![a16z leads $33 million seed round, how does Yupp reshape AI evaluation models based on blockchain and incentives?](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-72ec1eb4ea4b0853690939a455fd9194.webp01

Development History and Future Outlook

Yupp officially launched in June 2025, following six months of internal testing. Since its launch, the product has undergone continuous iterations, including multimodal support, expanded interaction methods, introduction of new models, real-time information access, payment upgrades, and optimization of sharing and exporting features. The platform has also held various community events and added personalized features.

Yupp's mission is "to empower humanity to shape the future of AI". Through multi-perspective AI responses and user feedback, Yupp not only helps users make better decisions but also provides continuous momentum for AI evolution.

Overall, Yupp has opened a new path for AI evaluation with a crowdsourced model, incentive mechanisms, and a real user preference-driven evaluation system. It not only provides users with free and diverse AI interaction experiences but also transforms user feedback into high-value training data, driving continuous optimization of the model. With an experienced team and top-tier capital support, Yupp is expected to play a key role in the future AI ecosystem, realizing the vision of "AI for everyone, shaped by everyone."

However, for the newly launched Yupp, how to continuously ensure data quality with large-scale user participation, resist potential cheating behaviors, and achieve a balance between commercialization and user incentives will still be a direction that needs to be constantly explored and optimized in its future development.