Modern public and private infrastructure is increasingly large and complex regardless of the industry within which it is deployed – communications, power, transportation, manufacturing, finance, etc. Large-scale infrastructure is increasingly a significant source of data on both its own operations as well as the society dependent on it. Big data from infrastructure can thus supply a variety of artificial and augmented intelligence systems. Large complex infrastructures typically require large complex organizations to operate and maintain. Such organizations though are typically centralized and constrained by bureaucratic policies and procedures. Recent organizational innovations include entity structures such as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
Decentralized Autonomous Organization
DAOs are emerging that may provide better transparency, autonomy and decentralization for the manner in which these large-scale infrastructures are operated. ADSs are analogous to living systems with autonomous and decentralized subsystems that have been developed to support the requirements of modern infrastructure. DAOs are digital-first entities that share similarities with a traditional company structure but have some additional features, such as the automatic enforcement of operating rules via smart contracts DAOs are more focused on governance and decision-making while ADSs are more focused on the operation of large-scale infrastructure
| ADS | DAO | |
| Timeline | Started ~1993 | Started ~2013 |
| Initial applications | Large scale infrastructure | Digital asset administration – e.g., cryptocurrencies |
| Sense of Autonomy | Maintaining automated operation despite environmental changes | (Financial) liability / responsibility allocation when failures occur |
| Decentralization | Physically distributed infrastructure | Physically distributed stakeholders |
| Artificial Intelligence Role | Augmented Intelligence for system operators | Adjunct off-chain processes |
| Reliability Mechanisms | Various by system implementation | Consensus protocols, cryptographic hashes |
| Focus | System composed of infrastructure | Organization ( legal entity) automating management administration |
Both DAOs and ADSs are decentralized and autonomous, but in somewhat different aspects. DAOs provide an opportunity for decentralized, autonomous governance that may be a useful feature for future ADS systems to consider. For more details on this topic refer to Wright, S. A. (2023, March). DAOs & ADSs. In 2023 IEEE 15th International Symposium on Autonomous Decentralized System (ISADS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.