The Cocoon decentralized AI network, a privacy-preserving distributed computing platform built on The Open Network (TON) — an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram messaging application — went live on Sunday.
Cocoon allows owners of graphics processing units (GPUs) to rent their computing power to the network, processing user queries and requests in return for Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain.
The decentralized AI network has processed its first requests from users, and GPU owners are already profiting from renting out their hardware, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov. He said:
“Centralized compute providers such as Amazon and Microsoft act as expensive intermediaries that drive up prices and reduce privacy. Cocoon solves both the economic and confidentiality issues associated with legacy AI compute providers.”
Durov announced the release of Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in October, as an answer to user demand for an AI platform that would protect privacy and data from large, centralized AI service providers.
The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long warned against the negative social effects of centralized AI, advocating for decentralized AI networks as a public good.
Related: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov free to leave France as travel ban lifted: Report
Decentralized AI and self-sovereignty: an antidote to a centralized dystopia
Centralized AI systems give governments and corporations enormous leverage over individuals that can compromise user privacy, threaten traditional cybersecurity safeguards, and lead to social conditioning by organized actors, David Holtzman, chief strategy officer of the Naoris decentralized security protocol, told Cointelegraph.
These threats can be mitigated by applying blockchain technology to AI to verify sources of information, ensure tamper-proof records, and allow nodes on distributed computing networks to communicate in a trustless way, he added.
In 2024, AI researchers from the Dfinity Foundation, the non-profit organization that steers development of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), and executives from decentralized AI developer Onicai outlined seven rules to ensure ethical AI.
These included running AI through permissionless blockchain networks to ensure transparency and data integrity.
A poll conducted by the Digital Currency Group (DCG) in May showed that 77% of the 2,036 respondents surveyed said that decentralized AI would benefit society more than centralized systems.
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