Interest in the space of Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is growing, demanding huge amounts of computing resources. However, conventional Bitcoin (BTC) miners are not yet jumping on the bandwagon. According to Heatbit founder Alex Busarov, mining farms, data centers and small-scale computing power providers are more knowledgeable about Bitcoin mining than the nascent AI and ML infrastructure space.
Busarov, whose Heatbit company has developed heating hardware devices that mine Bitcoin and generate heat, explains that people tend to focus more on the application side of AI, rather than the computing side. The company’s Bitcoin-mining heaters feature a circuit board that is capable of mining BTC as well as being used for AI training and computing resources.
Web Summit provided an opportunity for Heatbit to expand its focus to AI training resources, aiming to change the negative perception of Bitcoin mining’s energy usage.
“I think AI is going to overtake Bitcoin mining with all the headlines like, “AI training is using more energy than this in this country” quite soon. They’re going to need devices like ours, just with AI training chips.”
While Heatbit’s hardware caters to providing AI and ML resources, Busarov also believes that the wider GPU and ASIC infrastructure ecosystem might not necessarily shift away from Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining endeavors just yet.
“I think what sticks with people is actually Bitcoin mining. I think they actually understand Bitcoin mining computing a lot better than AI training computing.”
Busarov also believes that home mining might become more viable again in the future, given that the level of hardware precision involved in large-scale mining means that competition comes down to the cost of energy. Combining mining with additional functions like heating and cooling leads to zero energy costs for the mining itself.
“That’s why I think it’s going to go back to home mining, for economic reasons, through applications like ours.”
As demand for AI computing resources rises, innovative startups like io.net are leveraging blockchain solutions to power networks that source GPU computing power from geographically diverse data centers, cryptocurrency miners, and decentralized storage providers to power machine learning and AI computing.
