# Introduction

Hypertensor is a distributed intelligence platform for decentralized AI applications—**open** and **verifiably decentralized AI** protocols run by the world.

On a more technical level, Hypertensor is a network of pools of sub-networks (known as subnets). A subnet is a distributed network of computers (known as nodes) running software related to AI that can verify AI-related work. Nodes in these subnets either compete or collaborate on AI tasks and evaluate each other's quality of performance in real time.

On a higher level understanding, **Hypertensor is a decentralized AI economy**. Currently, companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevinLabs, and xAI are among the top companies in the centralized AI economy. What if OpenAI **allowed anyone to host LLMs** and run inference tasks in return for income, or Anthropic **allowed anyone to validate inference tasks** in return for income?

**This is what Hypertensor is**: an economy where any team can [build a fully decentralized AI startup](https://docs.hypertensor.org/build-a-subnet)—in a fully decentralized AI economy.