MindChats EP08 Recap: Centralized AI vs. Decentralized AI with io.net

5 min readApr 3, 2024

In the 8th episode of MindChats, streamed on March 28th, Mind Network was excited to have Garrison Yang, CSO/CMO of io.net. Garrison is so knowledgeable in crypto AI and had some pearls for us regarding the battle between Centralized AI vs. Decentralized AI. io.net’s mission is to build the world’s largest AI compute DePIN.

How does FHE apply in this scenario? With over 8K tuned in participants in an hour, here are some of the key takeaways from this chat.

Time Stamp

Check out the recording of the AMA：https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1BdxYrvaPdQKX?s=20
04:10 Centralized AI vs. Decentralized AI
07:44 io.net Transforming Compute with Decentralization
12:45 Decentralized Cloud: Advantages and Trade-offs in Web3
16:25 The Crucial Role of Decentralization in Shaping Web3’s Future
24:50 Overview of io.net Products and User Demographics
30:40 Exploring Solana and Move: io.net’s Blockchain Strategy
33:40 Future Partnerships and Trends in Web3 and AI
42:55 Exploring the Concept of Depin and Its Role in io.net
47:55 IO Launch Updates and Incentive Programs

Key Highlights of the Episode

Centralized AI vs. Decentralized AI

Web3 AI is different from other Web3 verticals because it’s less important what chain one is building on and more important how one competes with centralized AI.
Decentralized AI companies have an inherent edge over centralized AI companies in overcoming the GPU shortage.

io.net Transforming Compute with Decentralization

Compute is the new oil, powering innovation and development across sectors.
io.net operates as a decentralized network of GPUs and CPUs, aiming to provide end-to-end AI services.
io.net seeks to create a tokenized asset, enabling investment, transactions, and product/service development on compute as a commodity.
io.net clusters resources from various networks, fostering accessibility and affordability of compute for projects.
Decentralized cloud offers flexibility akin to solar batteries compared to centralized clouds’ stable base load, accommodating variable demand spikes.
io.net aims to shift Web3 infrastructure away from centralized cloud providers, promoting decentralization and aligning with Web3 principles.

Decentralized Cloud: Advantages and Trade-offs in Web3

Native Advantage of Decentralization: Decentralized GPU compute provides an inherent advantage over centralized alternatives in Web3 projects, offering greater capacity to meet user demand.
Transparency about Trade-offs: While decentralized cloud offers cost-effectiveness and flexibility, it currently lacks integrations and may introduce latency compared to centralized solutions.
Scaling User Inferencing: Decentralized nodes facilitate faster user inferencing, improving the last mile of AI services by distributing computing resources closer to end-users globally.

The Crucial Role of Decentralization in Shaping Web3’s Future

Impact on Web2: Without decentralization, Web2’s GPU and AI landscape would favor big tech, stifling smaller players and data center diversity.
Centralization Risks: Centralized data control by tech giants could worsen global power imbalances and stifle innovation.
Addressing Nationalism and Censorship: Decentralization promotes global innovation and fair competition while resisting censorship.
Accelerated Control: Tech incumbents’ dominance may lead to faster centralization, urging urgent development of decentralized infrastructure.
Preserving Decentralized Crypto: Supporting decentralized compute is essential for protecting the decentralized nature of the broader crypto industry, ensuring equal participation.

Overview of io.net Products and User Demographics

io.net offers Cloud, Worker, and Explorer products, serving distinct functions within the network.
Cloud caters to MLOps engineers, research institutions, and AI-focused enterprises, while Worker targets consumers, miners, and independent data centers.
Explorer provides transparency into network activities, benefiting all users of io.net.

Exploring Solana and Move: io.net’s Blockchain Strategy

Solana’s speed, cost-effectiveness, and scalability make it an ideal choice for io.net’s initial blockchain infrastructure.
io.net is exploring Move, a language used by Aptos and SWE, for potential future blockchain development, aiming to offer both blockchain features and decentralized compute capabilities.
The vision includes positioning the io.net token as a new standard, likened to a “compute petrodollar,” emphasizing the importance of compute resources in the digital economy.

Future Partnerships and Trends in Web3 and AI

AI Collaboration: io.net focuses on collaborating with AI startups to offer affordable compute resources, reducing reliance on centralized cloud services.
Embracing Web3: Seeking partnerships in Web3 infrastructure, io.net aims to decentralize validator networks and support on-chain AI stack products.
Privacy and Security: Partnerships like Mind Network emphasize the importance of privacy and security in decentralized computing, leveraging technologies such as ZK for secure environments.
Cloud Gaming Innovation: Exploring cloud gaming on decentralized nodes (Depin) addresses latency issues and offers opportunities for widespread adoption and industry disruption.

Exploring the Concept of Depin and Its Role in io.net

io.net aims to collaborate with specialized Depins, such as Gaiman for cloud gaming and Filecoin for storage, leveraging their strengths in specific areas.
Implementing merge mining allows end node providers to earn rewards from multiple networks simultaneously, encouraging network participation and collaboration without bidding wars.
Being a Depin of Depins enables io.net to utilize clustering technology, enhancing network availability by incentivizing hardware providers to participate in multiple networks simultaneously.

IO Launch Updates and Incentive Programs

IO’s transition from beta to fully featured product on April 28th marks a significant milestone, focusing on infrastructure upgrades and user interface enhancements to accommodate growing user base.
Introducing worker points system for users, allowing them to earn points by running a worker. These points will be visible to users, with a rollout scheduled for April 1st, accompanied by a healthy airdrop rewards program starting on April 28th.

About Mind Network

Mind Network is the first FHE Restaking Layer for POS and AI Networks. Our framework operates as an FHE validation network, bringing secure computation and consensus to AI, DePIN, EigenLayer AVS, Bittensor Subnet, and many critical POS networks. Mind Network’s solution has found initial product-market-fit with projects such as IO.Net, MyShell, Bittensor, AIOZ, Nimble AI, ChainLink, Connext and more adopting its solution. It has achieved 650k+ active users and 3.2M+ transactions processed on its testnet.

Mind Network is backed by Binance Labs, Hashkey, Big Brain, Chainlink, Comma3, SevenX, and received an Ethereum grant to conduct research on practical implementations for FHE technology on Ethereum.

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