The Web3 AI space has become synonymous with blockchain AI, limiting innovation. Projects contort themselves into blockchain frameworks for funding, expertise, and communities, despite blockchain not always being the best fit. Web3 ideals differ from blockchain technology, with decentralized AI like federated learning not always needing tokens or blockchain. Incentives drive teams to adopt blockchain for ecosystem access, not product reasons. Decentralized AI, crypto-integrated AI, and Web3 AI are distinct concepts, with blockchain not always necessary. True innovation in decentralized AI requires technological pluralism, with blockchain as a tool, not a requirement. Web3 funding and community support need to embrace non-blockchain decentralization for successful projects. Numerous decentralized AI ecosystems exist beyond crypto, achieving genuine decentralization without blockchain badges. The blockchain-first approach is constraining innovation in decentralized AI, hindering the ecosystem. Web3 AI faces a choice: continue with blockchain requirements or liberate decentralized AI for its full potential.

Read more at Cointelegraph: Blockchain AI Cannibalizes Decentralized AI