In the United States and other countries around the world, the battle against censorship is one that continues to rage on, particularly as emerging media and information technologies become more mainstream.

With the popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) models, history has once again repeated itself, except this time, there’s not only fear surrounding the new technology—there’s fear of who controls it.

Spearheading the AI community’s push for decentralization is AiLayer Labs, the independent AI community propagating the 6079 “Free Think” movement that aims to prevent Big Tech from consolidating AI technology into one centralized entity.

Recently, AiLayer Labs announced its merger with Wire Network, a blockchain built for the AI agent economy, by implementing no gas fees for high speed transactions across all decentralized exchange networks. It’s a move AiLayer Labs hopes will combat the threat of centralized AI and preserve the freedom of open-sourced AI models.

To further this trend, Wire is partnering with Yuga Labs—the company behind popular web3 brands like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside—for its launch of ApeChain, a new creator platform that will utilize Wire’s cross-chain operations and Layer 1 blockchain infrastructure for the AI agent economy.

AiLayer Labs and Wire’s hope is to keep decentralized AI limitless, open-source and free from the consolidation of centralized power to allow for the convergence of decentralized AI tech with a fast transaction network to compete with the centralized AI technologies.

But it’s a mission that won’t move forward without a fight.

“In the book 1984, when the state takes away Winston Smith’s name, they replace it with a number: 6079,” Jesse Bryan, partner and chief marketing officer at Wire Network and part of the founding team for AiLayer Labs, said to me in a recent interview. “Our protocol is named after Winston Smith as a ‘f*ck you’ because we see that as the stakes.”

And the stakes couldn’t be higher. As the use of AI models is debated in Congress, the freedom with which citizens will be able to use AI technology in the future waits in limbo.

“Before everyone knows the ramifications of government centralizing and having more of your data, they’re trying to cut off the heads of the snake before people realize what’s happening—and it’s happening on both sides,” Ken DiCross, founder of Wire Network, said to me during a recent interview. “But who do you want winning the war—Thanos or Captain America?”

Wire hopes more people will see it as Captain America, helping AI agents transact across chains without using bridges or gas at 10,0000 transactions per second. Comparatively, Ethereum transacts around 50 transactions per second.

“Fortunately what we’ve been building for the last four years was perfect for this AI boom in a decentralized way,” DiCross said. “There is no other blockchain that can handle what AI will need, especially from a smart agent perspective. We are the only game in town allowing this smart agent future to exist right now.”

DiCross likens Wire to going to any country in the world with a VISA card. Just as you can visit any country, swipe your card and the transaction is translated to native currency, Wire has done the same for blockchains and for AI.

Read more: AI or Not: ‘Purveyors of Truth’ Fighting Fake Images Amid Wars & 2024 Elections

Wire was AiLayer Labs’ closest partner for the last six months of its build, and the more AiLayer Labs saw what was happening with agents, the more it became clear a merger was the most logical next step.

“We saw that if we came together with Wire, our decentralized AI infrastructure expertise—along with their transactions expertise—could allow us to become the first L1 for the agent economy,” Bryan said. “By bringing our AI layer together with their transaction layer, the belief is we can now really do some crazy shit.”

But getting individuals and enterprises to be on board with Wire is not the problem: Keeping AI decentralized is.

“We have to have decentralized AI,” DiCross said. “Being in centralized systems will decimate everybody. But what’s just as important as the AI itself is blockchain because you need to be able to know the identity of these AI agents.”

DiCross sees blockchain verification of AI identity as a necessity,

“AI is so good that you won’t know who you’re texting, video chatting with or who’s calling you on the phone,” DiCross said. “When you get to that level of sophistication, you need to be able to know that you’re dealing with an AI agent or a human. Blockchain’s validation aspect of AI is going to be of top tier importance moving forward, and that’s what Wire does.”

The alternative is decentralized AI, where users will be able to train their AI models locally on a device, hand over all of their information and have that information encrypted and owned by them—with Wire Network leading the charge.

If you haven’t heard of Wire Network, you’re not alone. The company has been in stealth mode for the past four years, only recently announcing who they were at Permissionless 3.

“We knew the tech that we were building—if we could build it—was going to change the industry and we didn’t want to come above water until we knew we had it fully developed,” DiCross said.

The fight now is to ensure that people are allowed to run their own decentralized AI models instead of those models being centralized to the Microsofts and Amazons of the world. But because open sourced AI is not aligned with the agenda of the government, the government can view it as a threat.

“There are people in our community who do not have social security numbers for their kids because they’re very serious about decentralization,” Bryan said. “If you’re building in the decentralized AI ecosystem right now, you’re already on the list. The heat and scrutiny we’re under compared to last year is getting worse by the day because the government is looking at crypto differently than AI. They’re trying to classify AI the same way you would munitions.”

But while the threat of centralized AI is real, it also might end up being a lot of smoke.

“I remember the 2017 ICO [initial coin offering] boom where every lawyer would walk past everyone’s booth at conferences telling them they’re going to jail,’” DiCross said. “But guess what? Barely anyone went to jail. I’ve seen the ‘Chicken Little’ and ‘the sky is falling’ every time, and every single time the industry just moves forward.” Investors, however, did lose billions of dollars in ICO scams. 

The upcoming U.S. presidential election will have a significant impact on the future of AI decentralization. 

“With blockchain technology, we can democratize AI, ensuring that individuals—not just large entities—have a say in how these systems are trained and utilized,” J.D. Seraphine, CEO and founder of Raiinmaker, said. “By opening up access to decentralized data, we create the foundation for more transparent, unbiased AI systems that serve the broader public interest.”

Whereas, the alternative leaves open the possibility of severe misuse. To combat this, Bryan stressed the importance of everyone in the industry working together and being on the same side of the conversation.

“Imagine every single day you’re using a state-sanctioned AI model that’s slightly turning your ideology until it programs you the way it wants,” Bryan said. “That’s what we’re talking about when we say Microsoft, Amazon, the CCP. You’re either going to rent your mind or own your mind. It’s that simple.”

lead image: Jesse Bryan (L) and Ken DiCross