I get why people are skeptical. Most crypto projects chase hype. But Bittensor $TAO is different it’s aiming at a problem that’s about to define the decade. We’re heading toward an AI monopoly that makes Big Tech look tame. Right now: Only 3–4 companies can train frontier models: OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, Meta. Training costs are exploding. GPT-4: $100M. GPT-5: $1B. By 2030, $10B+ runs. That means only 2–3 entities. Will control all meaningful AI. And that’s where the real danger starts: 1. Corporate Alignment Problem Google decides what’s “true.” No competition. No alternative viewpoints. 2. Innovation Gatekeeping You want AI for research? Pay their price, follow their rules, accept their limits. 3. Data Slavery We train their models for free, they own the value. 4. Single Points of Failure One AWS outage. One regulator. And half the world’s AI goes dark. Bittensor exists as infrastructure insurance. It doesn’t need to be perfectly decentralized just decentralized enough to: • Prevent single-entity control • Enable permissionless innovation • Distribute value fairly Think Linux vs Windows. Linux didn’t win the market, but it forced competition, powered critical infrastructure, and gave the world a real alternative. Bittensor is the Linux of AI. Real use cases are already emerging: – Sovereign AI for nations too small to build their own. – Specialized models Big Tech ignores. – Uncensorable research. – Economic participation for contributors GPUs, data, validation work paid in $TAO. Without Bittensor by 2030: – 2–3 companies own intelligence itself – Prices rise – Innovation is permissioned – Nations get locked out – “AI safety” becomes corporate policy With Bittensor: – Constant competition – Open innovation – Shared infrastructure – Value flows to contributors – Multiple safety approaches $TAO it’s the coordination mechanism. No incentives, no network. No network, back to monopolies. Bittensor might fail. It’s hard tech. But the alternative total corporate control of intelligence is worse. The question isn’t “Will Bittensor beat Google?” It’s “Do we really want to live in a world where Google has no competition?” We’ve seen this movie before. Oil. Banks. Big Tech. This time, it’s intelligence itself. And that’s why I think $TAO matters.