The Future of BitTensor: Network Expansion, Decentralization, and Multimodal Applications

BitTensor's Expansion Plan: What’s in Store?

BitTensor is actively working on expanding its network capacity, enabling more users to participate while maintaining a balance of rewards. The initial launch will support 4,096 UIDs, but plans include an increase to either 8,000 or even 16,000 UIDs. Initially, the team will likely introduce a sub-network with 8,000 UIDs, then integrate it into the main network. They aim to achieve 16,000 UIDs in a sustainable way, ensuring consensus stability rather than focusing solely on computational power. While specifics on scaling aren’t finalized, users can expect substantial network growth and greater opportunities for participation in 2024.

Embracing Community Interaction on Social Media

The BitTensor team recognizes the need for a more engaging approach to community outreach, particularly on platforms like Twitter. Previously, the focus was on sharing notifications and updates. Moving forward, they aim to provide more interactive content, strengthening community involvement and communication. The shift in social media strategy aligns with the overall vision for a more decentralized, user-focused ecosystem.

Validator Adjustments and Decentralization Efforts

BitTensor is also redefining validator requirements. Instead of enforcing a strict minimum stake, they’re moving towards limiting the number of validators to streamline the epoch step function. As a result, the validator threshold (Tau) will adjust dynamically, based on competition and demand, as opposed to maintaining a fixed amount. This change will help manage the computational load while supporting the network's growth to 16,000 UIDs.

The team is keen to protect BitTensor from being dominated by large corporations or entities. By structuring BitTensor as a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), they aim to prevent economic power from unduly influencing network decisions. This approach will enhance decentralization, which serves as a defense mechanism against centralization. Similar to the decentralized security of Bitcoin's network, BitTensor aims to scale in a way that makes it increasingly difficult for any one entity to dominate the ecosystem.

Open-Source Code and Community Contributions

BitTensor intends to open-source its playground code once it’s ready, promoting transparency and collaboration. However, releasing the code in its current state could lead to a repository filled with incomplete code, which would hinder rather than help the community. By refining the code first, BitTensor ensures that the open-source initiative will truly empower developers to build on a solid foundation.

Partnerships and Collaborations in the AI Space

During a recent conference, the BitTensor team connected with individuals from the LAION project, known for its large open-source image datasets used in AI models like OpenCLIP. The conversation highlighted the different approaches to incentives in AI development. While LAION’s founder advocates for a no-incentives model, BitTensor embraces incentivization, believing it will drive innovation and community involvement. The team’s collaborative approach positions them to make substantial contributions to open-source AI.

Securing a Parachain Slot: Integration with the Polkadot Ecosystem

BitTensor is actively pursuing a Parachain slot within the Polkadot ecosystem. Unlike traditional crowd loans, which involve community-funded slots, BitTensor is working directly with investors to secure a slot. This approach allows them to maintain control over the process and, upon success, integrate more deeply with Polkadot. By securing a Parachain slot, BitTensor can offer its community the opportunity to stake DOT tokens, thereby enhancing network functionality and user engagement. Updates will be shared with the community as the process unfolds.

Transition to the Finney Network: A New Beginning

As BitTensor transitions to the Finney network, a grace period will be granted to ease the changeover. While users’ accounts will remain intact, blocks will start from zero, and previously filled slots will once again become available. This transition represents a fresh start for the network, facilitating more equitable access to slots and encouraging new participants to join. Details on the transition process will be shared closer to the official launch.

Technical Insights and Network Changes

During the BitTensor community discussion, technical questions on UID loss, registration, and network stability were addressed. While network scaling presents challenges, such as changes to data structures, the team is committed to finding solutions that minimize disruption for existing users. Moving forward, lower network entry barriers, achieved through the availability of 4,096 UIDs, will allow new users easier access to the ecosystem. As BitTensor’s subnets expand to accommodate audio, text, and images, they’ll enable the development of multimodal models capable of processing varied data types.

The team also shared plans to support specific datasets with minimal Tau, though it’s hard to predict the scale of such an impact. They’ll continue to encourage users to contribute custom datasets, enhancing the richness and diversity of the BitTensor ecosystem. Validator interactions with miners have been optimized to ensure efficient, secure data handling. These improvements pave the way for innovative applications that leverage various data types, offering flexibility for both miners and validators.

Leveraging Polkadot's Interoperability for Decentralized Governance

BitTensor’s future involves leveraging Polkadot’s interoperability and proof-of-stake security to improve governance and cross-chain functionality. Although challenges remain in scaling div/trust on highly optimized models, the team is focused on balancing performance with fairness. Through continued development and collaboration, BitTensor aims to build a robust, decentralized governance system that fosters innovation and community participation.

Roadmap and Future Goals

In January 2023, BitTensor published its roadmap, detailing goals like achieving liquidity through a DEX launch. They remain committed to this vision and plan to release a new roadmap in early 2024, which will highlight the expansion of subnetworks and increased compute capacity. By leveraging incentivization, BitTensor distinguishes itself in its ability to build foundational models and explore multimodal applications. Subnetworks will continue to unlock new relationships between data types, helping BitTensor maintain its edge in the rapidly evolving AI space.

The upcoming Finney launch, scheduled for January 10th, will enable BitTensor to integrate with a DEX and invite community participation. Validator processes for data types such as images will evolve, though some features, like gradients, are currently inactive. In this multimodal future, validators will have the opportunity to build unique applications, while miners will refine language models that convert text into meaningful language representations.

Conclusion

Over the past year, BitTensor has made significant strides in building a comprehensive framework that incentivizes validators and miners alike. The team's focus on usability enhancements, API improvements, and accessibility aims to create a more user-friendly experience for developers. BitTensor’s branding presentation in February will offer additional insights into its vision, and the community is encouraged to stay engaged for updates on these exciting developments.

The journey is just beginning for BitTensor, and its emphasis on community, collaboration, and innovation will pave the way for groundbreaking advancements in decentralized AI. For those interested in being a part of BitTensor’s future, the team invites you to reach out on the general channel with questions, suggestions, and ideas.

Source : @The Bittensor Hub.