At first, the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain seemed like an awkward pairing of buzzwords—a notion often met with skepticism among early adopters. But in merely a year’s time, decentralized AI has evolved from being an obscure idea to one that is central to conversations around the Web3 environment. Such swift transformation owes its momentum to a few crucial elements:

  • Influence of AI: AI is set to significantly impact how we interact with the world. As AI agents grow more sophisticated, they will manage tasks like financial transactions and personal coaching. This evolution raises important questions about control and governance in AI development.
  • The Risks of Centralized Power: Centralized AI models controlled by a few tech giants pose serious risks, including bias, censorship, and data privacy concerns. This concentration of power stifles innovation and creates vulnerabilities, as highlighted by the recent security breach at Hugging Face.
  • The Demand for an Inclusive AI Ecosystem: Decentralized AI offers a pathway to a more equitable and accessible AI landscape by distributing computational processes across various systems. Key benefits include:
    • Reduced Costs: Lower barriers enable smaller developers and startups to innovate in AI.
    • Enhanced Data Integrity: Verifiable data provenance increases transparency and trust in AI models.
    • Combating Censorship: Aligning AI development with market needs fosters a more democratic technological environment.

These points highlight the value of an alternative approach to centralized AI.


The Pillars of Decentralized AI

Decentralized AI comprises 3 pillars: leverages idle computing power from users, utilizes secure decentralized storage, and implements transparent data labeling.

  • Decentralized Storage: Utilizing decentralized storage networks like Filecoin ensures secure and verifiable storage for large datasets.
  • Decentralized Compute: By leveraging idle computing power from individual users and distributing tasks across a network, Decentralized AI makes AI development more accessible and cost-effective.
  • Decentralized Data Labeling and Verification: Transparent and verifiable data labeling processes help ensure data quality and reduce bias, fostering trust in AI systems.

A closer look: Decentralized AI Projects in the Filecoin Ecosystem 

To take a closer look into how the Web3 stack can offer benefits to the AI space, we’ll explore the various approaches 4 decentralized AI projects are taking. These projects are utilizing some or all of the pillars of decentralized AI as outlined above.

Source: Unlocking Decentralized Storage for AI Workloads and Beyond – Vukasin Vukoje

Ramo – Simplifying Decentralized Network Participation (Funding Stage: Seed)

Ramo plays a crucial role in powering AI workloads by coordinating capital and hardware. By merging resources from various providers, Ramo facilitates the execution of complex tasks such as storage, SNARK generation, and computation, while allowing hardware resources to be jointly funded across multiple networks.

  • Multi-Network Jobs: Ramo supports jobs across multiple networks (e.g., read from Filecoin, process on Fluence, write back to Filecoin), helps maximize hardware providers’ revenue and reduces coordination complexity.
Source: Decentralized Business Intelligence with Swan Chain’s AI Agent – Charles Cao

Swan Chain – Decentralized AI Training and Deployment (Funding Stage: Seed)

Swan Chain is a decentralized compute network, connecting users with idle computing resources for AI tasks like model training. Filecoin serves as its primary storage layer, ensuring secure, transparent, and accessible storage of AI data, aligning with the principles of decentralized AI.

  • Decentralized Compute Marketplace: Swan Chain aggregates global computing resources, offering a cost-effective alternative to centralized cloud services. Users can bid for computing jobs, and Swan Chain matches them with suitable providers based on requirements.
  • Filecoin Integration for Secure Data Storage: Swan Chain utilizes Filecoin and IPFS to securely store AI models and outputs, ensuring transparency and accountability in the AI development process.
  • Support for Diverse AI Workloads: Swan Chain supports various AI tasks, including model training, inference, and rendering, with examples like large language models and image/music generation.
Source: The role of open, verifiable systems in AI with Filecoin and Lilypad – Ally Haire

Lilypad – Distributed Compute for AI (Funding Stage: Seed)

Lilypad aims to build a trustless, distributed compute network that unleashes idle processing power and creates a new marketplace for AI, machine learning, and other large-scale computations. By integrating Filecoin and utilizing IPFS for hot storage, Lilypad ensures secure, transparent, and verifiable data handling throughout the AI workflow, supporting an open and accountable AI development landscape.

  • Job-Based Compute Matching: Lilypad’s job-based model matches user-defined compute needs (e.g., GPU type, resources) with providers, creating a marketplace for developers to share and monetize AI models within the decentralized AI ecosystem.
Source: bagel.net

Bagel – AI & Cryptography Research Lab (Funding Stage: Pre-Seed)

Bagel is an AI and cryptography research lab creating a decentralized machine learning ecosystem that enables AI developers to train and store models using the computing and storage power of decentralized networks like Filecoin. Its innovative GPU Restaking technology enhances Filecoin’s utility for AI applications by allowing storage providers (SPs) to contribute to both storage and compute networks simultaneously, thereby expanding support for AI developers and generating new revenue opportunities for SPs.

  • Increased Revenue for Filecoin SPs: Bagel helps storage providers monetize both storage and compute resources, boosting their income and incentivizing greater network participation.
  • Optimized Compute Utilization: With dynamic routing, Bagel directs GPUs to profitable networks, maximizing efficiency and returns for providers and users.

In Conclusion 

The intersection of Filecoin and AI marks a significant step forward in the evolution of technology. By combining verifiable storage with computing networks, we are not only addressing current challenges but also paving the way for future innovations. As these technologies continue to develop, their impact on AI and beyond will be profound, offering new possibilities for businesses and developers alike.

To understand more about Ramo, Swan Chain, Lilypad or Bagel dive into the respective keynotes and links here:

To stay updated on the latest in the Filecoin ecosystem, follow the @Filecointldr handle or join us on Discord.

Many thanks to HQ Han and Jonathan Victor for reviewing and providing valuable insights to this piece.

Disclaimer: This information is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute investment, financial, legal, or other advice. This information is not an endorsement, offer, or recommendation to use any particular service, product, or application.

Layer 2 solutions (L2s) are essential innovations in blockchain technology that enhance the scalability, efficiency, and functionality of their respective networks. For Filecoin, an L1 focused on decentralized storage, L2 solutions play a crucial role in bringing new capabilities to the base infrastructure of the network.

As Filecoin continues to grow, L2 solutions are helping bring Filecoin to market, and creating tailored offerings to builders focused on specific verticals. This post explores the current state of L2 solutions on Filecoin, highlighting the pioneering advancements and future directions.


Underlying Architecture

Before diving into the L2s, it’s useful to understand the shared framework that many of Filecoin’s L2s are built on: Interplanetary Consensus (IPC).

InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC) is a framework designed to solve the problem of scalability in decentralized applications (dApps). IPC achieves this by allowing the creation of subnets, which are independent blockchains that can be customized with specific consensus algorithms tailored to the needs of the application. These subnets can communicate seamlessly with each other, minimizing the need for cross-chain bridges – but anchored into the root Filecoin network.

Builders are drawn to IPC for several reasons. First, IPC subnets inherit the security features of their parent network, ensuring a high level of security for the dApps they host. Second, IPC leverages the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), a versatile execution environment that supports various programming languages, allowing for greater interoperability with other blockchains. Finally, IPC’s tight integration with Filecoin, a large decentralized storage network, offers dApps easy access to robust data storage and retrieval capabilities. This combination of scalability, security, interoperability, and storage integration makes IPC an attractive choice for developers building the next generation of dApps.


Advancements in Data Management with Filecoin’s L2 Solutions

As the demand for efficient data management increases, Filecoin’s Layer 2 solutions are rising to meet these needs. These advancements focus on optimizing data storage and retrieval, offering enhanced scalability and cost-effectiveness across various applications. Basin is one such startup leading the charge.

Source: An introduction to Basin: The first data L2 on Filecoin

Basin, the first data Layer 2 on Filecoin, represents an advancement in decentralized data infrastructure, bringing a swath of new services into the Filecoin ecosystem targeted at data heavy applications:

  • Key Features and Innovations
    • Hot and Cold Data Layers: Basin’s dual-layer approach incorporates a hot cache layer for real-time data access and a cold storage component for long-term archiving. This setup ensures both immediate accessibility and cost-effective storage, catering to diverse data needs.
    • Scalable Infrastructure: Basin’s architecture combines Filecoin’s secure storage capabilities with a flexible, scalable design ideal for handling high-volume data from IoT and AI applications.
    • Familiar Interfaces: Basin supports compatibility with S3, allowing developers to use familiar tools for managing data, which facilitates a smoother transition to decentralized solutions.
Source: A New Era of Web3 Scaling: The World’s First Data L2 on Filecoin – Marla Natoli

Basin is being actively used in real-world applications, such as handling weather data for decentralized stations with WeatherXM, and generating synthetic data for smart contracts. These use cases highlight Basin’s ability to efficiently store, manage, and monetize diverse data types, advancing practices in AI and machine learning.


Simplifying Decentralized Storage: Innovations and Challenges

Efficiently managing decentralized storage involves overcoming challenges related to user accessibility, cost, and integration. Providing more intuitive and cost-effective tools for data management will help address these challenges – and this is where Akave comes in.

Source: Akave X (X)

Akave is the first L2 storage chain powering on-chain data lakes, offering a novel approach to managing large volumes of data within a decentralized network. Data lakes are used in traditional enterprises to manage all types of data – typically feeding into large scale compute flows (e.g. for big data analytics). By leveraging Filecoin’s infrastructure, Akave aims to become a leading solution in decentralized data management, with a focus on enhancing data handling capabilities and integrating advanced security measures.

  • Key Features and Innovations
    • On-Chain Data Management: Akave focuses on creating on-chain data lakes, which provide a highly scalable and secure solution for managing large volumes of data directly on Filecoin.
    • Advanced Data Handling: The platform supports customizable data handling options such as replication policies and erasure coding, enhancing data security and availability.
    • Integration with Filecoin: Akave leverages Filecoin’s blockchain for improved data management, security, and decentralization.
Source: Akave: AI Trust Unlocked

Akave’s Decentralized Data Lakes revolutionize data storage with faster local access by placing data close to compute stacks, cutting egress costs compared to centralized clouds, and ensuring immutability and integrity through ZK Proofs. Users benefit from competitive pricing and diverse options via an open marketplace. Continuous visibility into data status and history is provided through Akave’s integration with Filecoin’s InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC), enhancing transparency and trust.


Enhancing AI and Unstructured Data Storage with Filecoin’s L2 Solutions

In the realm of AI and unstructured data, specialized storage solutions are crucial for managing and processing large datasets efficiently. Filecoin’s Layer 2 solutions like Storacha Network are stepping up to provide high-performance storage tailored for these needs. 

Source: Storacha Network

Storacha Network is a cutting-edge storage solution designed to enhance the management of AI and unstructured data. Leveraging Filecoin’s robust infrastructure, Storacha Network offers high-performance decentralized storage tailored for advanced applications. Looking ahead, Sriracha envisions evolving into a federated network with increased public participation, aiming to enhance global data access through a decentralized CDN and fostering broad community involvement.

  • Key Features and Innovations
    • High-Performance Storage: Storacha offers decentralized hot object storage, ensuring rapid access and retrieval of data, essential for AI applications that require quick processing and scaling.
    • Provenance and Ownership: Users maintain control over their data through UCANs (User-Controlled Authorization Networks), providing secure, cryptographic proofs of data ownership and access rights without frequent blockchain interactions.
    • Efficient Data Handling: Storacha handles large datasets by sharding files, facilitating quick retrieval and efficient management, crucial for large-scale AI operations.
Source: Storacha Network Revealed: Bringing the Heat to AI Data Storage – Alexander Kinstler

Storacha Network supports a range of AI use cases by providing fast, scalable object storage optimized for both structured and unstructured data. It addresses key needs such as verifiability and provenance for decentralized GPU networks, ensuring that training processes are executed as expected and checkpoints are maintained. 

Additionally, Storacha allows users to bring their own storage to training jobs, facilitating the sharing of hyperparameters and weights while ensuring ownership of training results.


In Conclusion

To wrap up, Filecoin’s Layer 2 solutions are paving the way for a new era in decentralized data management. Innovations like Basin, Akave, and Storacha Network are not only addressing the challenges of scalability and cost but also enhancing the efficiency and performance of data handling. As these technologies evolve, they promise to transform how data is stored, managed, and utilized, marking significant progress in the Web3 ecosystem.

To understand more about Basin, Akave or Storacha Network, watch their keynotes at the recent FIL Dev Summit.

Many thanks to Jonathan Victor for reviewing and providing valuable insights to this piece.

Disclaimer: This information is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute investment, financial, legal, or other advice. This information is not an endorsement, offer, or recommendation to use any particular service, product, or application.

At the latest Filecoin Developer Summit (FDS), Nicola Greco (of FilOz) introduced a vision to evolve Filecoin’s decentralized cloud services: Filecoin Web Services (FWS). FWS aims to provide a framework for deploying composable cloud services – allowing new protocols to bootstrap into a shared marketplace of offerings, all composable with each other.


Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services - Nicola G
Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services – Nicola G

Expanding Beyond Proof of Replication: Expanding the functionality of Filecoin

To understand FWS, it’s useful to first recap how the existing service offerings exist inside the Filecoin network.

The core storage offering, Proof of Replication (PoRep), allows storage providers to use proofs over uniquely encoded data to show that they are still in possession of specific pieces of data. Filecoin uses PoRep both for storage and for consensus – this requires higher security parameters, and therefore makes Filecoin’s base storage offering akin to cold storage. This makes Filecoin’s base offering ideal for datasets that might have a need for strong guarantees around uniqueness and existence but can accept slower access times. 

Furthermore, because Filecoin launched prior to the FVM, much of the onchain tooling (e.g. to set up and maintain storage deals, to enable payments) exist as “system actors” or non-programmable functions on the network. This means many of those functions were built to support the original storage functions on the network – but for any evolution would require a full network upgrade in order to modify or support new functionality.

However, as more storage on-ramp’s pushed into building storage solutions for customers, it became clear that there was a need for more storage offerings over and above the base offering from Filecoin. As a result, new types of proofs (such as proof of data possession) have been proposed to run on the Filecoin network – allowing for more use cases to be natively supported.

In designing these new offerings to sit on top of Filecoin, it became clear that many of these new proof offerings would need generalized versions of the onchain tooling that exists as “system actors” – such as payment rails. Rather than having many systems independently evolve their own architecture (and risk losing composability), a new proposal was put forward to focus on building modular, composable systems via FWS.


Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services - Nicola G
Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services – Nicola G

Introducing Filecoin Web Services: A Modular Approach to Cloud Services

At the core of Greco’s vision is the concepts of modularity and reuse. If each new service were to build their entire protocol from scratch, they’d need to develop work ranging from deal management to escrow and SLA enforcement – which would lead to a high barrier to entry for new services. FWS proposes a unified protocol that standardizes these components, allowing developers to focus on building specific services rather than recreating the entire stack.

FWS would serve as a thin, opinionated layer that manages payments, collateral, deal structuring, and SLA enforcement across various services. This standardization would enable seamless integration of new services, whether they are storage-related like PDP and retrieval services or entirely new offerings like markets for zk-SNARK proofs or AI-based computations. By providing a common framework, FWS would reduce complexity, lower development costs, and increase the rate of development for building within the Filecoin ecosystem.


Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services - Nicola G
Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services – Nicola G

The Power of a Unified Marketplace: Enhancing Efficiency and Accessibility

One of the key benefits of FWS is its potential to streamline the user experience. Without FWS, users would need to lock tokens in multiple smart contracts to access different services, leading to inefficiencies in collateral management and prepayment and increase users’ cost. FWS envisions a single entry point where users can determine how they’d like to pay – prepaid or pay-as-you-go – with the same rails being usable by multiple services. This model mirrors the convenience of traditional cloud services, where users simply provide a payment method and are periodically billed.

Moreover, by consolidating financial management into a single contract, FWS would improve collateral efficiency and reduce the overhead associated with managing multiple service contracts. This would also allow utilization of one service to enable credit in other services – allowing a credit history to be built up across disparate protocols. This approach not only simplifies the user experience but also enhances the overall liquidity and flexibility of the Filecoin ecosystem.


Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services - Nicola G
Source: Filecoin Web Services: Ecosystem of verifiable cloud services – Nicola G

A Vision for the Future: FWS as a Distribution Layer for Decentralized Services

Looking ahead, Greco envisions FWS not just as a tool for enhancing Filecoin’s storage capabilities but as a broader distribution layer for decentralized services. As the ecosystem grows, FWS could facilitate the integration of multiple networks and protocols, creating a cohesive marketplace for storage, compute, bandwidth, and other services. This would position Filecoin at the center of a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem, driving innovation and adoption across the decentralized web. By offering a marketplace for diverse services such as zero-knowledge proof generation, decentralized compute, FWS could position Filecoin as a leading platform in the decentralized web, supporting a wide array of applications beyond storage.

To understand more about FWS, watch the full keynote by Nicola Greco on Youtube

Many thanks to Jonathan Victor for reviewing and providing valuable insights to this piece.

Disclaimer: This information is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute investment, financial, legal, or other advice. This information is not an endorsement, offer, or recommendation to use any particular service, product, or application.