/ai-collective

Investigate possibilities of AI infrastructure that includes decentralized and distributed compute, networking, and storage while ensuring robust privacy, RBAC, and security.

Decentralized AI

Build AI ecoystem that:

  • Democratizes AI: Make AI accessible to all by leveraging the collective power of opted-in idle devices.
  • Enhances Innovation: Foster innovation across diverse communities.
  • Mitigates Technical Challenges: Address issues like latency and the need for specialized hardware through sheer quantity of compute power.
  • Ensures Security and Privacy: Implement privacy, RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), and security measures throughout from the ground up.

This infrastructure will support scalable, efficient, and secure AI development and deployment, creating a new layer of the internet dedicated to advancing AI capabilities for societal benefit, while also carefully considering and addressing the potential downsides of ubiquitous AI.

Kubernetes and Edge Computing Backbone

The realization of this vision depends on a hybrid Kubernetes and edge computing backbone.

  • Kubernetes: Provides the orchestration necessary to manage a distributed network of compute resources, ensuring efficient workload distribution, scalability, and fault tolerance.
  • Edge Computing: Brings computation closer to data sources, reducing latency and improving real-time processing capabilities.

This hybrid approach will create a resilient and flexible infrastructure for decentralized AI.

Harnessing the Power of Distributed Compute

The combined compute power from millions of small devices can overcome challenges like latency and reduce reliance on specialized hardware:

  • Aggregate Computational Power:
    • Massive Parallelism: With millions of devices, the aggregate computational power can become substantial. This can allow for significant parallel processing, where many small tasks are distributed across numerous devices.
    • Load Balancing: Efficient load balancing can ensure that tasks are distributed optimally, minimizing the impact of any single device's limitations.
  • Latency Mitigation:
    • Task Localization: By intelligently distributing tasks based on proximity or network latency, the overall impact of latency can be reduced. For example, tasks requiring low latency can be assigned to nearby devices.
    • Redundancy: Using redundant computations where the same task is processed by multiple devices can help mitigate the impact of latency and ensure reliability.
  • CPU vs. GPU:
    • Task Suitability: Many AI workloads can be effectively handled by CPUs. For example, distributed training of models can benefit from CPU clusters if the workload is appropriately partitioned.
    • Specialized Tasks: GPUs can be reserved for tasks that critically depend on them, while the bulk of other tasks are processed by CPUs. This hybrid approach can optimize the overall performance.
  • Edge Computing Advantages:
    • Real-Time Processing: With edge computing, data can be processed closer to its source, reducing the need for long-distance data transfer and thus lowering latency.
    • Bandwidth Savings: Processing data at the edge reduces the need to transmit large amounts of data to centralized servers, saving bandwidth and improving response times.
  • Scalability:
    • Elastic Resources: The ability to scale resources elastically based on demand can help in balancing the load and improving the efficiency of the distributed network.
    • Adaptive Algorithms: Adaptive algorithms can optimize the use of available resources, dynamically shifting workloads to the most appropriate devices based on current conditions.
  • Economic and Environmental Considerations:
    • Cost Efficiency: Leveraging existing unused devices can be more cost-effective than deploying new, dedicated hardware.
    • Energy Efficiency: Utilizing the idle capacity of existing devices can be more energy-efficient compared to running centralized data centers at full capacity.

Case Studies and Precedents

  • Logos

    • Fully decentralised, privacy-preserving, and politically neutral technology stack that provides the necessary support for self-sovereign virtual territories.
  • Mass Open Cloud (MOC):

    • An open, production-quality cloud that fosters innovation. Collaborative, open cloud infrastructure, providing scalable, efficient, and community-driven cloud services.
  • IPFS (InterPlanetary File System):

    • Peer-to-peer distributed file system connects a network of computing devices with the same system of files. It uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file.
  • BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing):

    • BOINC is a platform for volunteer computing and grid computing. It uses the idle processing power of personal computers owned by volunteers across the globe. BOINC has supported various scientific research projects, demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of distributed computing in handling large-scale computations.
  • FileCoin:

    • Decentralized storage network that turns cloud storage into an algorithmic market. Users can rent out spare storage space, and others can pay to store data. Leverages blockchain. Demonstrates the feasibility of decentralized storage systems and their potential to reduce reliance on traditional, centralized data centers.
  • Storj:

    • Decentralized cloud storage solution that encrypts, shards, and distributes data across a global network of nodes. Provides a secure, private, and highly available storage system.
  • Golem:

    • Decentralized computing network that allows users to rent out their computing power to others. It aims to create a global, open-source supercomputer.
  • Folding@home:

    • Folding@home is a distributed computing project aimed at simulating protein folding, which helps scientists understand diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer. This project leverages the idle computing power of volunteers to run simulations that would otherwise require massive supercomputing resources.

Vision of a New Internet Layer

Reasons Why "A New Internet Layer" is an Accurate Analogy

Fundamental Infrastructure:

  • Base Layer of Connectivity: Just as the internet forms the foundational layer enabling global connectivity and information exchange, this repository proposes a foundational layer for decentralized AI infrastructure. This new layer would facilitate the sharing and utilization of computational and storage resources.

Decentralization:

  • Distributed Network: The internet itself is a decentralized network of interconnected devices. This repository similarly proposes a decentralized network where idle devices contribute compute and storage resources, akin to how nodes on the internet contribute to the overall network.

Universal Accessibility:

  • Democratizing Access: The internet revolutionized access to information, making it available to a broader audience. This new layer aims to make AI resources available to anyone with connected devices.

Enhancement of Existing Capabilities:

  • Complementary Infrastructure: Just as various internet protocols (HTTP, FTP, etc.) run on top of the core internet infrastructure, this vision would provide additional capabilities on top of existing internet infrastructure. It enhances the utility of the internet by adding a layer dedicated to AI workloads and resource sharing.

Dynamic and Scalable:

  • Scalability and Flexibility: The internet scales dynamically with the addition of new devices and networks. Similarly, this vision involves a scalable system where the addition of new devices increases computational and storage capacity.

Collaboration and Contributions

Developers, researchers, and enthusiasts please join this project and help to build it! Your contributions, whether in code, research, or community support, are vital to the success of this vision. Together, we can democratize AI and make it accessible to all.