The piece begins by setting the stage: as the architecture of the internet shifts, combining artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is emerging as a means to preserve openness and decentralisation. While the traditional web increasingly becomes controlled by large platforms and algorithmic “walled gardens,” the convergence of AI + blockchain offers a path toward user-owned infrastructure, transparent data flows and more equitable value distribution. The authors suggest that these technologies together are not just nice to have, but may be necessary if the internet’s original promise of openness is to endure.
Next, it lays out 11 concrete use-cases (or themes) where this fusion can play out—covering areas like decentralised data marketplaces, token-incentivised training, AI-enabled smart contracts, identity & verification systems, autonomous agent economies, asset tokenisation, supply-chain transparency, energy trading, regulatory compliance automation, on-chain inference frameworks, and monetisation of AI services. These use-cases highlight how blockchain’s attributes (immutability, decentralised governance, tokenisation) complement AI’s strengths (prediction, automation, adaptation). For example, data providers on a blockchain could be rewarded via tokens while AI models use that data to learn—thus avoiding the centralisation of dataset ownership.
The article also engages with the challenges and trade-offs: scalability mismatches (AI demands high compute, blockchain networks are still constrained), data privacy concerns even in decentralised settings, governance issues (who defines the rules when tokens and models are involved?), and economic viability (token models often risk speculative excess). It argues that while the vision is bold, the engineering, regulatory and business models are still catching up—a reminder that excitement must be matched by pragmatism.
Finally, the authors conclude with a call to action: stakeholders—developers, researchers, platform builders—should actively explore the AI + blockchain intersection if they care about preserving a more open internet rather than allowing everything to funnel into closed systems. They suggest early experiments, interoperable standards, and open-source toolkits will be key. The underlying message is that if openness is to survive, it may rest on the ability of emerging systems to combine intelligence (AI) with trust and decentralisation (blockchain).
