Greg Osuri's journey from being a hackathon pioneer to making Akash Network, for decentralized cloud computing, is certainly a unique innovation in the tech world. I have been following the space for quite some time and it really feels like Akash is on to solving some huge pain points in the whole of decentralized cloud computing.
As someone who is involved in a variety of different tech projects, the thought of being shackled to one platform with little flexibility, and large bills of course, really bugs me. Osuri's vision for an open-source, decentralized cloud is really ambitious and, needless to say, necessary for a different future in tech innovation.
What caught my attention was the pivot of Akash to peer-to-peer infrastructure, with its eventual Layer-1 blockchain creation, which, to be honest, is quite a slick move. Actually, this addresses the scalability issues we've seen so far with the rest of the blockchain platforms. The fact that they are targeting solely decentralized cloud computing, with no smart contracts to make it complex, puts them out of the pack of usual Layer-1 solutions.
The GPU availability situation is pretty dire for the AI community right now, and a possible solution that Akash brought to the table is very exciting. Providing on-demand, high-density GPUs at a small fraction of the cost of usual providers might change the landscape for AI researchers and engineers. I see that dramatically accelerating the development of AI and democratizing access to powerful computing.
I am personally most excited by the convergence that Osuri posits: AI and crypto.
I follow both communities and think that, in a very real way, AI has become central to our lives. The special opportunity, though, comes from the distributed nature of training chips within AI linked to crypto's verification capabilities. This is a key combination opportunity that traditional cloud companies just cannot create.
I do, however, have some concerns as to the challenges with onboarding non-crypto users. The wallet and tokens act as a big barrier to entry for quite a few people. I'm glad Akash is trying things like account abstraction and trial wallets, which will hopefully make the process smoother. If they are really capable of getting onboarding time down to just 60 seconds, then the gates will be open for mainstream adoption.
From a macro perspective, I think Akash is on the leading edge of a massive tectonic shift in cloud computing. AI combined with crypto is a crossroads that represents an explosive growth opportunity, where things that could not even be dreamt of happening just a few years ago actually become possible. As these technologies continue to develop and mesh together, platforms like Akash are bound to end up having a notably pivotal role in setting the future course for the tech infrastructure.
There is surely a hardship in front of decentralized cloud solutions, however, I am pretty positive. They stand in an area with a lot of flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and innovation that most traditional providers will scarcely be able to match. As AI becomes commonplace in people's lives, the demand for accessible, all-powerful computing will just get stronger.
