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Pi Network Ventures has made its first investment in OpenMind, a company developing an operating system and open-source protocol for robots to think, learn, and work together—like Android for robots.
This investment in OpenMind aligns with both Pi Network and Pi Network Ventures’ key objectives. Pi Network strives to use blockchain and the resources behind it to solve real-world problems. Pi Network Ventures works to capture more of the world’s production onto Pi and increase the utility of Pi.
OpenMind’s technologies create a shared intelligence layer that enables robots to collaborate and learn collectively in a decentralized ecosystem. This complements Pi’s vision for the future of blockchain and AI, where decentralized infrastructure supports open innovation and equitable participation.
Beyond this investment, Pi Network and OpenMind have collaborated and completed a proof-of-concept project where volunteer Pi Node operators ran image recognition AI models for OpenMind, thus proving it’s possible for Pi Node operators to run computations for third-party organizations. This early experiment where OpenMind’s AI models can run on Pi Node infrastructure explores the capability of Pi’s global network of nodes to support decentralized AI training and computing tasks—another Pi Node utility in addition to securing the Pi ledger. This is also a platform-level utility, relying on the collective resources of the network, i.e. the computation power of its over 350,000 active nodes.
By transforming unused computing power into productive work, this effort (1) enables AI products to source and fulfill their computation demands from Pi Nodes by paying Node runners in Pi, and (2) allows Pi Node runners to opt in to earn Pi from an additional Node utility, apart from Node mining rewards. This Pi Node utility can help further integrate Pi into the AI economy through these computation and AI model training contributions to the AI infrastructure layer.
OpenMind is developing infrastructure that enables robots and intelligent systems to interact with their environments and with each other—securely and without dependence on single-vendor ecosystems. Its hardware-agnostic OM1 operating system supports the integration of intelligent machines into real-world contexts. The newly introduced FABRIC protocol allows machines to verify identity, share context, and coordinate across physical and digital environments. You can learn more about OpenMind here.
Investment in OpenMind provides a potential opportunity to work towards Pi Network’s broader vision for blockchain in an AI-driven world.
Pi Network Ventures’ participation in OpenMind’s funding round reflects its commitment to supporting strong startups and businesses, both in blockchain and across technology sectors, that align with Pi Network’s direction. This complements its three core investment objectives:
Regarding blockchain in an AI-driven world, Pi Network recognizes that technological productivity—especially from AI—raises questions about distribution, production, and the role of human labor and intelligence. In a future where productivity and transactions are increasingly carried out by AI agents acting on behalf of humans, the integration and accessibility of payment methods for these agents is an important feature.
Infrastructure that enables these agents to operate autonomously and coordinate effectively in real-world environments will be essential.
OpenMind seeks to build a shared intelligence layer that supports machine collaboration across sectors—from autonomous logistics to industrial automation—and contribute to the advancement of an interoperable AI application layer. This layer sits between high-powered AI infrastructure and real-world production, and, in Pi’s view, empowering that layer is essential to ensure that the benefits of AI reach human participants equitably.
The architecture that OpenMind is developing may represent one pathway for developing the coordination infrastructure necessary to scale intelligent systems in open and adaptable ways. In turn, such systems may create the opportunity for blockchain-enabled layers of identity, access, authentication, payments or incentive mechanisms—categories where Pi has existing infrastructure and ecosystem activity.
In that context, Pi Network Ventures’ investment in OpenMind supports the broader goal of preparing a technical and ecosystem environment integrated with real-world Pi utility in an increasingly AI-dominant world.
The initiative allowing Pi Node operators to run computations for OpenMind represents the early stages of exploring decentralized computing for AI training, leveraging the distributed capacity of Pi’s global node network.
Pi’s consensus algorithm is designed to be energy-efficient, meaning that securing the ledger alone does not require the full computational capacity of Pi’s entire network of over 350,000 Nodes (although it benefits from the decentralized aspect of these many Nodes). Therefore, Pi Nodes retain a large pool of unused computing capacity. This collective computational capacity is a valuable resource that can enable new utilities on top of the Node layer such as decentralized cloud computing.
As AI continues to demand ever-greater computational resources, utilizing this spare capacity from a global Web3 network can help meet those needs while providing real-world utility for Pi. By enabling Nodes to perform AI-related computation, Pi opens the potential for a new vertical of utility and economic activity within its ecosystem. Those requiring computing power for AI model training could pay Node operators in Pi for additional capacity, creating a decentralized cloud computing market that is more accessible and cost-effective than traditional, centralized platforms.
This vision could expand further by combining Pi’s decentralized labor network with its computing layer—allowing AI model developers to access both human feedback and computational power from within the same ecosystem. In doing so, Pi aims to enable a self-contained environment where people contribute labor, provide computing, and receive Pi in return—powering the next wave of AI development through decentralized participation.
Note: Pi Network Ventures investments are intended to provide both capital and strategic value over a broader timeframe to those believed to be best positioned to create value in the world and help provide additional ways to use Pi worldwide. The investment processes are intended to mirror the practices of traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms with respect to sourcing, selection, vetting processes and more, designed to identify and support high-impact and disruptive startups and businesses. With that in mind, Pi Network Ventures’ participation should be understood strictly as an investment, not a guarantee that the investment recipient will be successful. Venture capital practices seek to support transformative startups and innovations—which are driven by the strength and execution of each respective team—with a focus on companies that have a high ceiling for success that outweighs potential risks.
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