Deep Funding
Deep Funding is a mechanism designed to fairly distribute revenue earned by open-source projects to all the components and dependencies they rely on.
Simple Explanation: Dependency Graph
Imagine a project as a tree or network, where the main branches are projects that directly generate revenue and the roots and smaller branches are other projects, libraries, or pieces of code that the main project depends on.
For example, a large blockchain project relies on dozens of smaller open-source libraries and tools built by other developers.
Assigning Weights
To decide how important each component is to the overall project, various models (both AI-based and market-driven) propose weights for every connection in the dependency graph. A human jury may even spot-check parts of the graph with simple questions like “Does A deserve more credit than B?”
Final Fund Distribution
Similar to a tree’s root system distributing nutrients, Deep Funding spreads financial support to all the libraries, tools, and contributors that made the project possible.
The Key Steps
- Build a dependency graph showing how everything connects.
- Use AI and market-based approaches to propose weights for the graph.
- Let a human jury spot-check the accuracy of those weights.
- Use the best models to automatically distribute funds to all components.
This mechanism ensures that everyone who contributed value, from the biggest projects to the smallest libraries, gets their fair share of the revenue. It supports a healthier and more sustainable open-source ecosystem.
Use Cases
Deep Funding has the potential to solve fair resource distribution problems in any ecosystem where dependencies exist between components, and contributions are hard to measure using traditional methods.
1. Funding Technological Innovation
Major blockchain applications like Ethereum or Solana rely on hundreds of smaller open-source libraries. Deep Funding can fairly distribute revenue to these tools and contributors based on their importance.
2. Supporting Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development
AI models depend on open-source code, training datasets, and algorithms. Deep Funding can identify and reward the most critical contributions, ensuring foundational contributors are fairly compensated.
3. Improving Scientific Research Funding
Deep Funding can create a “knowledge graph” mapping prior research’s impact on current breakthroughs, leading to fairer distribution of grants and funding in science.
4. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
Deep Funding can evaluate members’ contributions in DAOs, enabling fair and automated fund distribution based on overall impact.
5. Gaming and Metaverse Ecosystems
Deep Funding can assess contributions of game engines, character designers, and environment artists to ensure fair revenue distribution based on their impact.
6. Combating Climate Change
Deep Funding can track contributions toward carbon reduction initiatives and distribute funds proportionally to those achieving measurable results.
7. Crowdsourced Content and Media Creation
By analyzing the connections between creators—citations, references, inspirations—Deep Funding can allocate revenue to those whose work influenced the final product.
8. Enhancing Open-Source Communities
Deep Funding can evaluate contributions—bug fixes, new features, documentation—and distribute funds to maintainers, ensuring a sustainable open-source ecosystem.
Summary
Deep Funding has the potential to solve fair resource distribution problems in any ecosystem where:
- Dependencies exist between different components (e.g., open-source code, AI, research).
- Contributions are difficult to measure using traditional methods.
- Recognition and financial incentives can motivate contributors and drive sustainable growth.
This approach can revolutionize technology, scientific research, AI, gaming, climate action, decentralized governance, and many other fields—fostering fairness, innovation, and collaboration.