Andreessen Horowitz Bets Big: Blockchain to Revolutionize AI Ownership and Fuel Next-Gen Innovation

Silicon Valley''s heavyweight VC firm is doubling down on crypto''s killer app—decentralizing AI before Big Tech locks it down.

The Ownership Fix

Blockchain isn''t just for degenerate traders anymore. A16z''s latest playbook pitches distributed ledgers as the only way to prevent AI from becoming another Wall Street-controlled monopoly—complete with the usual rent-seeking and arbitrary ''platform fees.''

Code Over Corporations

Their thesis? Smart contracts beat shareholder primacy when it comes to governing AI models. Imagine open-source algorithms that pay royalties directly to creators—no middlemen taking 30% cuts just for existing.

The Cynical Take

Of course, this requires ignoring that 90% of current blockchain projects are vaporware. But when has that ever stopped venture capitalists from hyping the next big thing?

Computation and payment rails

For computing, the report promoted decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) networks that pooled idle GPUs and energy, turning gaming PCs and spare data center capacity into permissionless marketplaces and reducing reliance on a handful of cloud providers.

On-chain “synchrony layers” WOULD have kept AI-generated code bases aligned. Developers would have wrapped shared standards in tokenized protocols, earning automatic rewards for patching vulnerabilities, and every connected application would have inherited fixes without requiring manual updates.

The document also emphasized the importance of micropayments, envisioning nano-transactions on low-fee chains that split every purchase among the data sources and AI, which are queried before recommending a product. 

The same rails could negotiate access for web crawlers. Bots would post token deposits and pay metered fees to website “bouncer” contracts, while verified humans browsed for free. 

Immutable ledgers could track which passages trained which models and route compensation back to publishers.

Intellectual property and companionship

To manage intellectual property, the report called for public on-chain registries that embedded ownership metadata directly in creative assets. 

Smart contract licensing could allow brands to charge or permit derivatives programmatically, turning potential infringement into traceable royalty flows.

At the same time, advertising could rely on wallet-based zero-knowledge proofs. Users would be required to reveal minimal demographic facts and would receive small payments for attention while continuing to see relevant promotions.

Looking ahead, the paper argued that AI tutors, health aides, and companionship bots should run under user keys rather than corporate dashboards. 

Censorship-resistant blockchains and account-abstraction wallets already mask the complexity of seed phrases, while optimistic or zero-knowledge coprocessors could provide the throughput needed for long-term relationships that store memories on-chain.

The report concluded that intertwining blockchains and machine learning could preserve an open internet by embedding incentives, provenance, and governance directly at the protocol layer.