AI’s GPU obsession blinds us to a cheaper, smarter solution

Opinion by: Naman Kabra, co-founder and CEO of NodeOps Network

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have become the default hardware for many AI workloads, especially when training large models. That thinking is everywhere. While it makes sense in some contexts, it’s also created a blind spot that’s holding us back.

GPUs have earned their reputation. They’re incredible at crunching massive numbers in parallel, which makes them perfect for training large language models or running high-speed AI inference. That’s why companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta spend a lot of money building GPU clusters.

While GPUs may be preferred for running AI, we cannot forget about Central Processing Units (CPUs), which are still very capable. Forgetting this could be costing us time, money, and opportunity.

CPUs aren’t outdated. More people need to realize they can be used for AI tasks. They’re sitting idle in millions of machines worldwide, capable of running a wide range of AI tasks efficiently and affordably, if only we’d give them a chance.

Where CPUs shine in AI

It’s easy to see how we got here. GPUs are built for parallelism. They can handle massive amounts of data simultaneously, which is excellent for tasks like image recognition or training a chatbot with billions of parameters. CPUs can’t compete in those jobs.

AI isn’t just model training. It’s not just high-speed matrix math. Today, AI includes tasks like running smaller models, interpreting data, managing logic chains, making decisions, fetching documents, and responding to questions. These aren’t just “dumb math” problems. They require flexible thinking. They require logic. They require CPUs.

While GPUs get all the headlines, CPUs are quietly handling the backbone of many AI workflows, especially when you zoom in on how AI systems actually run in the real world.

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CPUs are impressive at what they were designed for: flexible, logic-based operations. They’re built to handle one or a few tasks at a time, really well. That might not sound impressive next to the massive parallelism of GPUs, but many AI tasks don’t need that kind of firepower.

Consider autonomous agents, those fancy tools that can use AI to complete tasks like searching the web, writing code, or planning a project. Sure, the agent might call a large language model that runs on a GPU, but everything around that, the logic, the planning, the decision-making, runs just fine on a CPU.

Even inference (AI-speak for actually using the model after its training) can be done on CPUs, especially if the models are smaller, optimized, or running in situations where ultra-low latency isn’t necessary.

CPUs can handle a huge range of AI tasks just fine. We’re so focused on GPU performance, however, that we’re not using what we already have right in front of us.

We don’t need to keep building expensive new data centers packed with GPUs to meet the growing demand for AI. We just need to use what’s already out there efficiently.

That’s where things get interesting. Because now we have a way to actually do that.

How decentralized compute networks change the game

DePINs, or decentralized physical infrastructure networks, are a viable solution. It’s a mouthful, but the idea is simple: People contribute their unused computing power (like idle CPUs), which gets pooled into a global network that others can tap into.

Instead of renting time on some centralized cloud provider’s GPU cluster, you could run AI workloads across a decentralized network of CPUs anywhere in the world. These platforms create a type of peer-to-peer computing layer where jobs can be distributed, executed, and verified securely.

This model has a few clear benefits. First, it’s much cheaper. You don’t need to pay premium prices to rent out a scarce GPU when a CPU will do the job just fine. Second, it scales naturally.

The available compute grows as more people plug their machines into the network. Third, it brings computing closer to the edge. Tasks can be run on machines near where the data lives, reducing latency and increasing privacy.

Think of it like Airbnb for compute. Instead of building more hotels (data centers), we’re making better use of all the empty rooms (idle CPUs) people already have.

Through shifting our thinking and using decentralized networks to route AI workloads to the correct processor type, GPU when needed and CPU when possible, we unlock scale, efficiency, and resilience.

The bottom line

It’s time to stop treating CPUs like second-class citizens in the AI world. Yes, GPUs are critical. No one’s denying that. CPUs are everywhere. They’re underused but still perfectly capable of powering many of the AI tasks we care about.

Instead of throwing more money at the GPU shortage, let’s ask a more intelligent question: Are we even using the computing we already have?

With decentralized compute platforms stepping up to connect idle CPUs to the AI economy, we have a massive opportunity to rethink how we scale AI infrastructure. The real constraint isn’t just GPU availability. It’s a mindset shift. We’re so conditioned to chase high-end hardware that we overlook the untapped potential sitting idle across the network.

Opinion by: Naman Kabra, co-founder and CEO of NodeOps Network.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.