Turbo, often called the first AI-guided meme coin, was created as an experimental project by digital artist Rhett Mankind in April 2023. Inspired by the idea of community-driven crypto, Mankind used GPT-4 with a small budget of $69 to design Turbo (initially known as TurboToad) and documented its creation as a public journey. Following GPT-4’s guidance, he used AI to generate key elements such as tokenomics, branding, and a single-page whitepaper. The Turbo mascot, a toad named Quantum Leap, was designed through community input using the AI art tool Midjourney.

After the initial launch faced a setback due to front-running bots, the project saw an unexpected resurgence through a community crowdfunding effort, raising 4 ETH to restore liquidity. From this point, the community became fully involved, choosing the name “Turbo” for the token and establishing governance through community-driven decisions. This decentralized approach attracted notable support from Web3 influencers and artists, contributing to Turbo’s rapid growth in the crypto space as it achieved a substantial market cap and gained tens of thousands of holders.

Turbo’s success reflects the potential of AI in decentralized projects and has positioned it as a pioneering example in the AI meme coin space.