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MeatisOmalley t1_j94hpmq wrote

this isn't some radical idea. Decentralized networks have been around for decades, but I think you'll be shocked by how much we will be able to do on just local hardware. One of the best AI image generation programs can be run locally on a mid-range computer today, and it only takes a few gigs to install. That's because neural nets are space- and power- effecient, relative to how much they are able to accomplish.

Absolute worse case scenario, a private company has its own servers and sells a product to users. This is already happening with AI, and it will continue to happen. It won't all solely be in the hands of the "powerful." there is guaranteed to be open-source alternatives.

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Disastrous_Court4545 t1_j94iq2s wrote

You're right that the hardware can handle these models. I'm not arguing that.

What i'm arguing is saying millions of regular computers connected in a single network could rival the processing power of a supercomputer. The limitations of the network cables and network hardware devices aside, the CPUs wouldn't beat a supercomputer unless you somehow connected enough cores into one unit and ran a bunch of stuff using all cores at once. Regular computers can't beat a supercomputer at what a supercomputer is designed to do.

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MeatisOmalley t1_j94lzt8 wrote

Most supercomputers/servers are just a bunch of nodes/smaller computers running in parallel. The only difference is that they are centralized.

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Disastrous_Court4545 t1_j94uy46 wrote

Yeah, seems you're right. Then your idea would definitely work.

Too bad the bad actors using large botnets don't use that zombie network for good...

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