# 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](/build-a-subnet/introduction.md)—in a fully decentralized AI economy. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.hypertensor.org/understanding-hypertensor/introduction.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.