Verifiable Compute: Anchoring Enterprise AI on Hedera

Today, EQTY Lab, Intel, and NVIDIA unveiled Verifiable Compute. The new, transformative solution addresses a critical need in the AI industry for trust and verification, particularly as autonomous AI agents become more prevalent. 

By rooting trust in the silicon of next-generation hardware from NVIDIA and Intel, Verifiable Compute sets a new standard for AI security and innovation. The framework is the culmination of two years of intensive research, with input and support from Hedera at key stages. It introduces a hardware-based SLSA Level 3 system for creating cryptographic certificates to govern and audit AI workflows, all anchored in the transparency that blockchain provides.

Verifiable Compute leverages advanced cryptography to protect and control AI data, models, and agents, transforming how organizations enforce AI governance and automate auditing. The solution introduces a hardware-based cryptographic AI notary and certificate system, ensuring explainability, accountability, and security of AI training, inference, and benchmarking at runtime. This can isolate sensitive AI operations and create tamper-proof records of every data object and code computed in AI training and inference. 

The framework leverages the Hedera Consensus Service to create an immutable ledger of AI computations, harnessing the transparency and trust of Web3 to set a new standard for enterprise AI governance. By anchoring AI trust directly in silicon and extending it to the Hedera network, this solution provides a tangible use case that demonstrates the power of Web3 in enhancing AI security, transparency, and compliance.

“Hedera’s enterprise-grade infrastructure, backed by a Council of global leaders like Dell Technologies, sets it apart from other blockchains by providing the scalability and security essential for bringing Verifiable Compute to market.

Hedera’s visionary leadership team has long-shaped the network to meet real-world business needs, positioning it as a trusted platform for enterprise adoption.”Jonathan Dotan, Founder of EQTY Lab

Hedera's Role in Powering AI Trust

At the heart of Verifiable Compute's blockchain integration is the Hedera Consensus Service. This decentralized ledger serves as the backbone for recording and verifying AI computations, creating an auditable trail of every operation performed on compatible Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. The integration provides several key benefits:

1. Immutable Record-Keeping: Each AI computation is logged on the Hedera network, ensuring a tamper-proof history of all AI operations with a time stamp to establish when the operation happened relative to any known security breaches and vulnerabilities.
   
   

2. Smart Contract Orchestration: The Hedera ledger acts as a hardware binding for smart contracts, enabling seamless orchestration of work across various AI protocols.
   
   

3. Enhanced Governance and Compliance: By leveraging Hedera's decentralized infrastructure, Verifiable Compute can enforce business policies and regulatory compliance in a single sovereign cloud or across multiple jurisdictions, enabling adaptability to varying requirements and standards.

Enterprise Adoption and Regulatory Alignment

EQTY Lab collaborated with a dozen government agencies across EMEA to develop Verifiable Compute, ensuring the solution aligns with emerging AI regulations across the globe, like the EU AI Act. The UAE's AI government and regulators, known for their Web3-forward approach, supported the Verifiable Compute R&D as early as June 2023 through a partnership with EQTY Lab and Hedera to release the ClimateGPT Model. This collaborative effort has resulted in a solution that meets the stringent requirements of enterprises, who will have to ensure that their AI applications and usage comply with a quickly growing patchwork of global regulations. 

Hedera Council member Dell was instrumental in building the first node with EQTY Lab and Hedera, further underscoring the enterprise-ready nature of the solution and the interest of mainstream customers.

As we look towards the future, Verifiable Compute stands as a testament to the real-world potential of cryptography and Web3. With its launch in Q1 2025, it is poised to offer a powerful new chapter in the adoption of enterprise AI and decentralized technologies across industries as varied as finance, life sciences, media, and the public sector, where the requirement for greater trust and transparency is at an all-time high.