- Gaia launches Edge OSS, a production-ready AI infrastructure that brings private, on-device AI to smartphones.
- The platform enables mid-tier smartphone manufacturers to compete with Apple and Samsung without billion-dollar R&D budgets.
Gaia, the open-source AI infrastructure startup, has launched Edge OSS, a production-ready platform designed to bring private, on-device intelligence to smartphones. The release, according to Gais, will be crucial for mid-tier smartphone manufacturers aiming to deliver advanced AI features without relying on proprietary cloud systems or multi-billion-dollar R&D investments.
A Push for AI Sovereignty
Founded in 2024, Gaia positions itself as a decentralized alternative to centralized AI services. Its mission centers on addressing three pressing concerns: privacy risks, lack of transparency, and censorship vulnerabilities.
By distributing inference workloads across a network of edge computing nodes, the project aims to make AI more secure, censorship-resistant, and user-owned.
Edge OSS builds on this foundation by offering device makers a complete infrastructure stack.
Unlike traditional AI offerings that run on app-level integrations or cloud APIs, Gaia introduces system-level coordination, enabling intelligence to operate across applications, hardware, and user contexts.
This design ensures real-time performance while embedding regulatory compliance and data sovereignty by default.
The Cloud-Free Alternative
AI on smartphones is rapidly shifting from a luxury feature to a consumer expectation. According to market analysts, nearly 70% of smartphones will require AI capabilities by 2028, while the edge AI market is projected to surpass $66 billion by 2030. Yet only a handful of global players—Apple, Samsung, and Huawei—can afford the massive budgets required to build proprietary infrastructure.
“Edge OSS provides production-ready AI sovereignty that scales from pilot to platform in months, not years,” said Shashank Sripada, Gaia’s co-founder and COO.
He noted the operational advantage for manufacturers: the ability to scale intelligent features across hundreds of millions of devices without building costly cloud infrastructure.
This levels the playing field for mid-tier vendors who collectively ship over 800 million smartphones annually. However, they lack the resources to match the $25 billion-plus annual R&D spending of tech giants – Apple and Samsung.
Developer-Friendly and Regulation-Ready
The platform ships with a CLI, SDK, and testing framework, tools designed to accelerate AI development while remaining compliant with global rules like the EU AI Act, GDPR, and China’s localization mandates.
Its OpenAI-compatible interfaces simplify integration with existing models, while Gaia’s MCP protocol standardizes communication between AI agents, services, and hardware.
This approach allows developers to build AI services that are composable, local, and resilient, reducing reliance on centralized players.
By ensuring data never leaves the device, Edge OSS also addresses concerns over data misuse and surveillance. These issues increasingly scrutinized by regulators worldwide.
Gaia’s Funding and Early Momentum
Gaia’s growth trajectory has been notable since its inception. During its testing phase, the network activated over 1,000 edge nodes, demonstrating early technical viability.
In May 2024, Gaia raised $10 million in a seed funding round from EVM Capital, Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, Generative Ventures’ Lex Sokolin, and Republic Capital’s Brian Johnson.
In July 2025, Gaia raised another $10 million in Series A funding round led by ByteTrade/SIG Capital (Susquehanna) and Mirana/Mantle Eco Fund. The Series A round also witnessed participation from Outlier Ventures, NGC Ventures, BitGo, Selini Capital, Presto, Stake Capital, FactBlock, G20, Amber, Cogitent Ventures, Paper Ventures, MoonPay, SpiderCrypto, Consensys Mesh, and others.
The startup has gained attention as part of a new wave of decentralized AI infrastructure providers competing with cloud-heavy incumbents like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind.
The project’s ambition is to create a “living knowledge network” where AI agents continuously learn and evolve, enabling applications ranging from educational tutoring to algorithmic trading. Users can even deploy AI “digital twins” that replicate their professional expertise, expanding the ecosystem’s utility beyond consumer devices.
Earlier this month, Gaia Labs also launched a limited pre-sale of the Gaia AI Phone, its first smartphone. The device runs AI and privacy tools directly on the hardware, offering user control over data and identity. Priced at US$1,399 for this launch, the edition is capped at 7,000 units and intended as a controlled demonstration to validate Gaia’s decentralized architecture before scaling.
The Bigger Industry Picture
The smartphone AI race is intensifying. Apple’s AI features in iOS, Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite, and Google’s Gemini integration have set the bar for premium devices. But these advances are mostly cloud-dependent and limited to companies with deep proprietary control.
Gaia’s Edge OSS offers an alternative path: one where AI is built into devices directly and owned by users, not servers. If adopted widely, decentralized AI platforms could reshape the economics of smartphone manufacturing by giving smaller players tools to compete on intelligence rather than just price.
With AI adoption accelerating, Gaia’s Edge OSS could emerge as a strategic enabler for manufacturers squeezed between rising consumer expectations and prohibitive infrastructure costs.
Gaia Aims to Build an AI sovereignty stack
Beyond mobile, Gaia aims to to build a comprehensive sovereignty stack for the post-cloud internet.
Gaia is aligning its platform with Web3. By supporting decentralized identity systems, trustless coordination between devices, and user-owned AI agents, Edge OSS positions itself as a bridge between AI sovereignty and Web3’s core values of autonomy and transparency.
According to a statement issued Wednesday, Gaia is already working on partnerships across decentralized storage, identity, and inference providers.
Read Also: Web3 Studio Moku Pushes Into AI Entertainment With $1M Prize Pool for ‘Grand Arena’
Disclaimer: The information provided on AlexaBlockchain is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Read complete disclaimer here.