Centralized AI systems concentrate power in few hands, restrict who can participate, and create bottlenecks that slow down real innovation. Decentralized networks flip this model entirely—they distribute authority and unlock speed.

Take the emerging approach in open-source AI infrastructure: instead of locked gates, you get permissionless participation. Contributors can submit models directly, validators can audit data integrity in real-time, compute providers join the network without approval, and everyone participating earns rewards based on their contribution.

This architecture doesn't just sound different—it fundamentally changes incentives. When you can't gate access, quality improves through competition. When rewards flow to multiple players (model creators, validators, compute suppliers), innovation accelerates across the entire stack. Projects pioneering this pattern prove decentralized networks don't sacrifice efficiency; they multiply it.

The shift from "trust the gatekeeper" to "trust the protocol" represents Web3's biggest competitive advantage in AI infrastructure.