Directionally bad. Issue #002
a newsletter about risks of AI centralization
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What is Directionally bad. Issue #002?
Directionally bad. Issue #002 is the second installment of the Directionally bad newsletter by DeAI Nation. Directionally bad is a global non-profit association dedicated to promoting and protecting decentralized compute for artificial intelligence. The organization advances sovereign and fair access to AI infrastructure, viewing open models, open-source software, open weights, and distributed compute as the foundation of technological independence for countries and regions.
The organization serves as a hub connecting governments, public institutions, foundations, GPU operators, and DeAI protocols into a single space for joint initiatives. Directionally bad creates market and analytical reports on decentralized AI, attracts and allocates grants from major economies and global foundations, helps build strategies for technological sovereignty, develops standards for transparency and resource allocation, and organizes international summits and educational programs positioning decentralized AI as a public good.
Directionally bad also publishes 'Directionally Bad,' a weekly newsletter covering decentralized AI developments and the risks of AI centralization. The newsletter discusses topics like Andrej Karpathy's career moves, GPU pricing changes from cloud providers, new decentralized training technologies like Pluralis's Agora, and Bittensor ecosystem developments.
The organization is particularly relevant for countries with low-cost energy and favorable conditions for infrastructure projects, those wanting to grow local IT capabilities and diversify their economy, and those demanding AI solutions tailored to national languages and local contexts. Members include states, AI companies and protocols, funds and NGOs who receive strategic influence, access to governments, participation in token programs, hackathons, pilots, and joint research opportunities.
Directionally bad. Issue #002 pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
DeAI Nation is a global non-profit association. The newsletter 'Directionally Bad' is free to subscribe to on Substack. The organization is opening an early participation window for partners to sign an MOU and become one of the first partners. Specific membership pricing tiers are not publicly disclosed on the website. Partners include states, AI companies/protocols, and funds/NGOs who receive different benefits. For extended collaboration formats and pricing details, the website directs interested parties to contact them directly. No free tier or paid plan pricing is explicitly published.
Directionally bad. Issue #002 pros
- Global non-profit status provides institutional legitimacy and trust
- Connects governments with DeAI protocols through institutional channels
- Provides access to compute without capex on hardware for states
- Creates alternative AI development path reducing US-China dependence
- Enables countries to develop national language models
- Lower AI project costs through decentralized compute market
- Protocol-level resistance to monopolization
- Transparent and verifiable computation across the network
- Market-set prices rather than corporation-controlled pricing
- Open access for countries, companies, and developers globally
- Global GPU network alternative to centralized data centers
- Creates strategic influence over distributed compute rules for founding partners
- Access to governments and IT clusters for AI companies and protocols
- Participation in token programs, hackathons, and pilots for members
- Joint research and educational initiatives for funds and NGOs
- No central operator - operates like Bitcoin with no central bank
- Brings together countries, funds, GPU operators, and DeAI protocols
- Develops standards for transparency and resource allocation
Directionally bad. Issue #002 cons
- No explicit pricing information available for membership
- Early stage organization still opening participation window
- Requires signing MOU to become one of the first partners
- Limited information on specific membership costs or tiers
- Decentralized networks lack legal framework for countries to use directly
- No mature process for working with decentralized networks yet
- Consumer-grade GPUs still need 24GB VRAM and North American location
- Over 90% of AI infrastructure controlled by US and China remains a major challenge
- More than 150 countries have no AI infrastructure at all
- Dependence on few providers keeps growing despite decentralized alternatives
Frequently asked questions about Directionally bad. Issue #002
What is DeAI Nation?
DeAI Nation is a global non-profit association advancing the idea and principles of sovereign and fair access to AI infrastructure. They see open models, open-source and open weights, as well as distributed compute, as the foundation of technological independence for countries and regions. They connect governments, public institutions, foundations, and decentralized AI projects to work together and build an open path for technologies accessible to the entire world.
What problem does DeAI Nation solve?
The AI GPU market is extremely concentrated with over 90% of infrastructure controlled by just two states - the United States and China. Corporations in these countries operate 126 AI hubs while Europe has only six. More than 150 countries have no such infrastructure at all. This creates risks of censorship, access restrictions, and geopolitical dependency. DeAI Nation addresses this by distributing compute across thousands of independent nodes, removing any single center of control.
How does decentralized AI work?
Decentralized AI distributes compute across thousands of independent nodes, following the logic of robust open protocols. Just as Bitcoin has no central bank, decentralized AI has no single operator. Key properties include: open access for countries/companies/developers, a global GPU network as alternative to centralized data centers, protocol-level resistance to monopolization, transparent and verifiable computation, and prices set by the market rather than a few corporations.
What does DeAI Nation do?
DeAI Nation brings together countries and regions, funds, GPU operators, and DeAI protocols into a single space for joint initiatives. They create market and analytical reports on decentralized AI, attract and allocate grants from major economies and global foundations, help build strategies for technological sovereignty and diversified access to compute, develop standards for transparency and resource allocation, promote decentralization and explain systemic risks of centralization, and organize international summits and educational programs.
Who should join DeAI Nation?
DeAI Nation is especially relevant for countries that have: low-cost energy and favorable conditions for infrastructure projects, ambitions to grow local IT capabilities talent pools and jobs and diversify the economy, and demand for AI solutions tailored to national languages and local contexts. Members include states seeking technological sovereignty, AI companies and protocols wanting access to governments, and funds/NGOs interested in joint research and educational initiatives.
What benefits do members receive?
For states: strategic influence over the rules of distributed compute and a share in ecosystem growth as a founding partner. For AI companies and protocols: access to governments and IT clusters, participation in token programs, hackathons, and pilots. For funds and NGOs: opportunities for joint research, educational initiatives, and public campaigns about decentralized AI. Members also get access to institutional demand for compute and network growth.
Why does DeAI Nation work?
Decentralized networks such as Gonka, Bittensor, Render and others already operate at significant distributed compute scale, but countries cannot use this capacity directly due to lack of legal framework, institutional channel, or mature process. DeAI Nation acts as a hub creating a state- and institution-friendly bridge into DeAI protocols. They don't build data centers - protocols offer quotas and they distribute them. Their core assets are transparency, legitimacy, and institutional trust.
What is the Directionally Bad newsletter?
Directionally Bad is DeAI Nation's weekly newsletter that covers decentralized AI and the risks of centralization. It discusses topics like AI researcher movements (such as Andrej Karpathy joining Anthropic), GPU pricing changes from cloud providers like Nebius, new decentralized training technologies like Pluralis's Agora that enables consumer-grade GPUs for pretraining, and Bittensor ecosystem developments including subnet performance visualizations.
How do I become a partner?
DeAI Nation is opening an early participation window and invites interested parties to join the launch by signing an MOU to become one of the first partners and use the official participation mark in communications. For extended collaboration formats, you need to contact them directly. The website provides a contact option for those wanting more information about partnership opportunities.
What decentralized AI protocols are part of the ecosystem?
The decentralized AI ecosystem includes networks such as Gonka, Bittensor, Render, and others that already operate at significant distributed compute scale. Bittensor has subnets like IOTA (a model-training-oriented subnet operated by Macrocosmos). Pluralis is a research lab that released Agora technology for using consumer-grade GPUs in model pretraining. These protocols offer quotas that DeAI Nation helps distribute to institutional users.