Arweave's AO Computer: What You Need to Know
Decentralized Storage, Hyper-Parallel Computer, Arweave AI usecases, & More
Decentralized computing is a hot topic right now, with io.net receiving a lot of criticism for overstating the number of available GPUs on the platform, among other things. This has brought some eyes to surrounding projects, including protocols like Render, Akash, and more. One interesting protocol in this area is Arweave.
Arweave operates in the decentralized cloud storage sector, distinct from cloud computing which protocols like ionet and Render are involved in, though these usescases are often lumped together in the name of AI usecases in crypto. Arweave has long been one of the primary protocols tackling the decentralized storage problem. The project even saw some use from non-crypto natives, which is the ultimate goal, amidst the Hong Kong protests. Individuals used Arweave to permissionlessly save articles and tabloids that were being scrubbed. This helped the team to raise $27M to date…
Stay alert, stay informed ⬇
Background on Arweave
Though the AR token took a beating along with most tokens today, the protocol is valued at a marketcap ofnearly $2B, far from a smallcap project. Arweave’s inception was back in late 2019, so the protocol has had quite a bit of time to find its footing.
Arweave describes itself as a protocol “like Bitcoin, but for data”. Specifically, it is a blockchain-based data layer, allowing for the permissionless and permanent storage of all sorts of data via an open ledger system. A very layman’s description of Arweave would be, a censorship resistant and decentralized alternative to the likes of Google drive.
Lazy Evaluations
Arweave uses Lazy Evaluations or call-by-needs, a computer science principle which can be applied to smart contracts. Celestia, originally called Lazy Ledger, was one of the first protocols to experiment in this area. Smart contract protocols use of lazy evaluations emphasizes the potential for improved scalability in computational systems.
Arweave introducing asynchronous messaging between smart contracts using Arweave as a message bus enables parallel computation, offering a solution for scalability challenges. Current smart contracting systems operate on global synchronized states with a single leader writing to the network over time, limiting scalability.
AO by Arweave
AO (Actor-Oriented) is a hyper parallel computer, built on top of Arweave. AO allows for building programs within a shared environment akin to everyone sharing a scientific calculator, enabling communication and composability between different actors. In AO programming, coordination happens through message passing rather than shared memory, offering an intuitive approach for large-scale systems compared to traditional shared memory systems. AO has notably integrated AI LLMs (Large Language Models), it’s aim being to provide high-performance computation.
With AO, ‘Intelligence’ can be embedded within a system, offering smart contract-like guarantees. AO opens up doors for autonomous managing of crypto portfolios and hands-free smart contract interactions, sort of what people have envisioned could be possible with intents, but much more comprehensive and without as much need for user specifications. On-chain training and execution are feasible, unlike current blockchains limited by scale constraints. There are challenges with existing systems e.g. Ethereum, Solana, etc. due to tying execution with consensus, hindering scalability.
Other blockchain compute protocols are now taking notice of Arweave’s AO. Despite initial surprise from some members of the ICP community regarding AO’s capabilities, there is openness among them to understanding the differences and advantages offered by AO. AO offers simplicity and flexibility akin to JavaScript but without complexities like memory management.
Sam Williams, CEO of Arweave, envisions a future where decentralized markets evolve from fun games with bots into fully decentralized intelligent markets on-chain, highlighting how building better bots can lead to token earnings similar to market dynamics. There’s been a lot of talk of AI agents, from the likes of Arthur Hayes, among other industry figureheads. Arweave has taken quite a leap in developing blockchain infrastructure where this exact sort of premise can flourish.
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