Decentralized AI network Cocoon, a privacy-preserving distributed computing platform based on The Open Network (TON) – an independent Layer 1 blockchain connected to the messaging application Telegram – went live to tell the tale Sunday.
Cocoon allows graphics processing unit (GPU) owners to rent their computing power to the network and process user requests and requests in return for Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain.
The decentralized AI network has processed the primary requests from users and GPU owners are already benefiting from renting out their hardware, based on Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov. He said:
“Centralized computing providers like Amazon and Microsoft act as expensive intermediaries, driving up prices and limiting privacy. Cocoon solves each the economic and confidentiality problems related to legacy AI computing providers.” Source: Pavel Durov
Durov announced the discharge of Cocoon in October on the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in response to user demand for an AI platform that might protect the privacy and data of huge, centralized AI service providers.
The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long warned concerning the negative social impacts of centralized AI and advocated for decentralized AI networks as a public good.
Decentralized AI and self-sovereignty: an antidote to a centralized dystopia
Centralized AI systems give governments and corporations enormous influence over individuals, which may compromise user privacy, compromise traditional cybersecurity measures and result in social conditioning by organized actors, David Holtzman, chief strategy officer at decentralized security protocol Naoris, told Cointelegraph.
These threats may be mitigated by applying blockchain technology to AI to confirm information sources, ensure tamper-proof records and enable nodes in distributed computer networks to speak in a trustworthy manner, he added.
In 2024, AI researchers on the Dfinity Foundation, the nonprofit organization guiding the event of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), and executives at decentralized AI developer Onicai outlined seven rules for ensuring ethical AI.
This included running AI over permissionless blockchain networks to make sure transparency and data integrity.
A survey conducted in May by the Digital Currency Group (DCG) found that 77% of two,036 respondents said decentralized AI would profit society greater than centralized systems.
