Vision of a World Computer in a Decentralization Network

Decentralization networks have long pursued the dream of creating a world computer, a concept aimed at executing arbitrary code without trust and being able to share with the entire world. Following Ethereum, many infrastructure projects have made attempts in this direction. The upcoming AO network is one of them.

From a macro perspective, a "world computer" can be roughly divided into three main parts: data computation, access, and storage. In the past, a certain storage project has played the role of the "world hard drive." The AO network (Actor Oriented) introduces general computing capabilities and provides smart contract functionality.

AO: Actor-based General Computing Network

Currently, the mainstream decentralized computing platforms can be divided into two categories: smart contract platforms and general computing platforms. Smart contract platforms are represented by a certain well-known public blockchain, where the network shares a global state memory and reaches consensus on the computation process that changes the state. Because consensus requires a large amount of repetitive computation, it is only used for processing high-value business under high costs. General computing networks do not reach consensus on the computation process itself, but instead verify the computation results based on the business and handle the request order, with no shared state memory. This reduces costs and allows the network to expand into more areas of computation, with representative projects including certain computing power networks.

In addition, some projects integrate general computing with smart contracts based on virtual machine security assumptions. These types of networks achieve consensus only on the order of transactions and verify the computation results. Multiple state-changing computations are processed in parallel among network nodes, and the virtual machine of the computing environment ensures deterministic results. Therefore, as long as the transaction order is consistent, the final state will also remain consistent.

Due to the lack of shared state memory, this type of network has low scalability costs, allowing multiple tasks to be computed in parallel without affecting each other. These projects are often based on the Actor programming model, and AO also belongs to this category. In the Actor model, each computing unit is treated as an independent agent processing transactions, and the computing units interact through communication. AO standardizes the message passing of Actors, achieving a Decentralization computing network.

Unlike traditional passively triggered smart contracts, AO can actively run smart contracts through a "cron" method triggered by fixed time cycles, such as trading programs that continuously monitor arbitrage opportunities.

The AO network has fast scalable Decentralization computing power, ultra-large data storage capacity, Actor programming model, and the ability to actively trigger transactions, which makes it very suitable for hosting AI Agents. AO also supports running large AI models in smart contracts on the blockchain.

AO Network Features

AO does not reach consensus on the calculation process, but rather on the order of transactions, and assumes that the execution results of the virtual machine are deterministic, thus achieving consistency of the final state.

AO adopts a modular design, with three basic units existing in the network: Scheduling Unit (SU), Computing Unit (CU), and Messenger Unit (MU). After a transaction is initiated, the MU receives the transaction, verifies the signature, and forwards it to the SU. The SU acts as a connection point between AO and a storage chain, assisting the network in ordering the transaction sequence and uploading it to the storage chain for consensus completion. The current consensus method is POA (Proof of Authority). Once consensus is achieved, tasks are assigned to the CU for specific computations, and the results are returned to the user via the MU.

CU clusters can be considered a decentralized computing power network. Under a complete economic plan, CU nodes need to stake assets and compete based on factors such as computing performance and price to provide computing power and earn profits. If there is a computing error, the node will have its assets confiscated. This is a standard economic security mechanism.

Comparison of AO with Other Networks

As a general computing platform, AO has significant differences from traditional smart contract platforms. A certain storage project has also launched its own smart contract platform, but it is an equivalent state consensus architecture to EVM, which does not match the experience of traditional smart contract platforms.

Unlike some decentralized computing networks, AO retains smart contract capabilities and maintains a global state on a certain storage layer.

In fact, AO is architecturally most similar to a well-known project. This project created an early paradigm of asynchronous computing blockchain networks, and AO largely continues this design, including ordering transactions only by sequence, believing in the deterministic computing of virtual machines, and asynchronous processing using the Actor model.

The main difference is that a certain project maintains state based on containers, while AO has a shared state layer. This increases the network's Decentralization capability, but also loses the possibility of implementing certain special privacy operations.

In terms of economy and design, a certain project has set high hardware requirements for participating nodes to ensure network performance, resulting in a high threshold. AO, on the other hand, operates with a fair launch and no admission requirements, allowing anyone to participate in competitive mining by staking. AO uses a modular design, which lowers the entry costs for developers.

However, AO may face similar systemic drawbacks as certain projects, such as the lack of atomicity in cross-contract transactions under the Actor asynchronous model, which may hinder the development of DeFi applications. The new computing model also imposes higher demands on developers. The wasm virtual machine under the AO architecture can manage a maximum limit of 4GB, which also leads to some complex models being unusable.

Overall, AO has chosen to focus on the AI Agent route, which may be a strategy of leveraging strengths and avoiding weaknesses. It is worth noting that a certain project also announced at the beginning of 2024 that it will focus on the AI field.

From a market capitalization perspective, the total market cap of the AO project is currently $2.2 billion, which still falls short compared to a certain project's $5 billion. However, in the context of the rapid development of AI, AO may still have significant potential.