Internet Computer the blockchain project, which attempted to differentiate itself from its rival, has doubled the pitch as a go-to network for on-chain artificial intelligence. (AI).
This could be the beginning of a new technology stack where AI, not humans, becomes the main developer of applications, according to Dominic Williams, founder of Internet computer developer Dfinity.
Williams argued that while crypto prices are driven primarily by market dynamics (Treasury operations, liquidity games, speculation), the underlying technology ultimately forces calculations in an interview with Koindsk.
“In the long term, the market will begin to reflect ground reality,” he said. “But we still don’t know what’s going on with the Internet computers reflected in ICP prices.”
Run AI on-chain
Internet computers first demonstrated neural networks running as smart contracts in April last year, starting with image classification and subsequent facial recognition, Williams said.
They were relatively simple models compared to large-scale language models – the kinds of powering AI tools like chatgpt and gemini – they were proof of concept: AI can be run natively on the blockchain. Williams noted that despite his chatter about “decentralized AI,” other networks have not achieved this.
If others rely on off-chain infrastructure like Amazon Web Services, ICP is trying to fully integrate AI development and on-chaining the execution stack. Williams describes this as the “self-writing internet.” This is a system that describes what users want, and AI delivers as a working application hosted directly on an Internet computer.
The bigger idea, Williams said, is that AI itself will replace much of today’s developer workflow. Instead of humans writing code, configuring databases, and maintaining servers, AI can instantly spin up applications, update them continuously, and ensure resilience through blockchain-based guarantees.
This reconfigures the blockchain not only as a token settlement layer, but also as the optimal environment for AI-generated applications. Designing ICPs with features like “reverse gas” – A model in which developers pay the computational cost of applications rather than requiring end users to pay transaction fees, removes the need for firewall or database migrations that plague traditional infrastructure.
“AI develops these apps hundreds of times faster than humans,” Williams said. “And because there are no systems administrators, we need guardrails that only blockchain can provide.”
Williams pointed to early hackathons where ordinary people use AI to build apps on ICP.
The vision is that such tools could grow to millions. Entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even NGOs can create customized apps and pay for use with Fiat without technical expertise, and Crypto Tokens supports behind the scenes systems.
Price action is still late
Despite these developments, ICP tokens have yet to see sustained momentum. It recovered temporarily when AI integration was announced last year, but has since traded more in line with broader market sentiment than user recruitment.
Williams accepts this disconnect, but predicts that the market could soon catch up.
“This could be the first time Web3 has actually technically out Web2 and can’t see the token incentive,” Williams said. “The shock will result in people being able to talk to AI and blockchain apps being shown in the URL.”
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