Welcome to the Decentralization Research Center report, a monthly briefing on events and research relevant to decentralization, DAOs and governance.

This Month’s Updates

Key Notes

On the 5th of August, a judge sitting at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that “Google is a monopolist,” a landmark case in a new era of antitrust in the US that could ultimately require technology companies to open and/or change their structures.

Meanwhile, in the E.U., regulators are beginning to define decentralization in the context of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority provided the clearest guidance yet for decentralization standards in the context of DeFi, which could be a new precedent for the industry.

Over in the race for AI, Mark Graham looked at the workers who power the AI industry and the personal costs their work entails: “It is unlikely that any of the issues data workers experience will ever be meaningfully addressed without workers building their collective power in movements and institutions.”

As various tech tycoons hazily imagine a future in which the benefits of AI are equitably distributed, Saffron Huang and Sam Manning look at how predistribution—proactively ensuring the widespread opportunity to benefit from AI—offers a better alternative to redistribution in creating equitable AI systems.

The US Department of Justice has taken action against a Russian-run, AI-powered information operation, (the type of operation we warned about earlier in the year), and Charlyn Ho argues for the use of blockchain in mitigating the fraud risks posed by deepfakes.

The Full Rundown

Other stories and research we’ve been tracking for you:

• Dane Gambrell describes how AI can support lawmakers conduct large-scale online engagements with constituents.
  

• The Collective Intelligence Project releases the four tools they are working on this year.
  

• Thibault Schrepel and Jason Potts present a comprehensive evaluation of the openness of AI foundation models.
  

• Nimrod Lehavi looks at how early and swift regulation affected the development of Japan’s Web3 economy.
  

• Nathan Schneider discusses democracy, agency, and accountability in trust-building.
  

• Vitalik Buterin outlines the ambiguous relationship between crypto and politics.
  

• A new research report explores the digital revolution's impact on society.
  

• Wulf A. Kaal examines how web3-driven AI governance model can pave the way for AI systems that are adaptable, ethical, and efficiently managed.

Kyle Bligen, Director of Financial Policy at the Chamber of Progress, joins the Techquitable podcast to discuss what he’s hearing in Washington on legislation affecting blockchain technology, decentralization, and much more.

Discussing the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, Frank McCourt advocates for returning data ownership to individuals and stresses the need for political engagement to align AI with democratic values.

And Ezra Klein sits down with musician Holly Herndon to find out how collective intelligence, rather than artificial intelligence, could lead to art that is “generative, challenging, transcendent.”

If you’re working on related research or would like to get involved in our work, please reach out to us via [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

Connor Spelliscy
Executive Director
Decentralization Research Center