This talk by Nils Pihl, founder of Auki Labs was recorded at DePIN Day Hong Kong — a flagship event dedicated to the future of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks. Hosted by Fluence and Titan Network, it brings together founders, developers, and ecosystem leaders to explore what’s next in decentralized infrastructure. The discussion highlights real-world use cases and emerging trends in the DePIN ecosystem. Watch to learn how leading teams are building infrastructure beyond the cloud.
The Problem: Why GPS Isn’t Enough for AI
Auki argues that traditional GPS is outdated and ill-equipped for the urban realities of the 21st century. In high-density cities like Hong Kong and across the Greater Bay Area, GPS fails due to poor line-of-sight and lack of indoor functionality. AI agents, robots, and even smartphones require more precise spatial awareness to operate effectively in these environments. Without accurate spatial data, AI cannot interact meaningfully with the 70% of the global economy that relies on physical space.
The Evolution of DePIN
Pihl frames DePIN as the next chapter in Satoshi Nakamoto’s legacy. Beyond decentralizing money, the true impact lies in decentralizing physical infrastructure. He posits that the future economy will involve 100 billion autonomous agents that need to perceive space, exchange value, and collaborate in real time. This demands a new layer of the internet: a universal protocol for decentralized spatial computing.
What Comes After GPS? A Decentralized Machine Perception Network
Auki is building PostMesh, a decentralized protocol where spatial data is shared between machines. Rather than each robot or AR device mapping environments in isolation, they can now collaborate. This results in a real-time, crowd-sourced spatial understanding of the world — essential for autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and next-gen AR.
Imagine self-driving cars coordinating lane merges by communicating with each other, or blind individuals navigating stores using spatially-aware apps. Auki’s live protocol already powers such applications.
Spatial Computing and the Future of Infrastructure
The Apple Vision Pro is a spatial computer. These new devices require intensive compute and detailed maps of the physical world. Auki proposes that collaborative spatial computing, powered by DePIN, can reduce device size by offloading compute to the edge and enabling shared perception.
This evolution mirrors how Helium revolutionized wireless infrastructure. Now, Auki is doing the same for spatial awareness: building civilization-scale infrastructure that is decentralized, permissionless, and massively scalable.
Real-World Use Cases: From AR to Accessibility
Auki’s tech is already enabling:
- Indoor navigation for the visually impaired
- Real-time AR experiences in retail
- Spatial authentication for robotics
- Infrastructure for self-driving cars to exchange real-time location data
By decentralizing machine perception, Auki unlocks a new class of AI-powered services that bridge the digital and physical worlds.
DePIN as the Sixth Protocol of the Internet
As Nils Pihl argues, decentralized spatial networks could become the sixth major protocol layer of the internet — alongside TCP/IP, HTTP, and blockchain. In a future where billions of autonomous agents must coordinate, perceive, and act in real-time physical environments, machine perception must be decentralized, trustless and interoperable.
Auki is turning this vision into reality. With PostMesh live and real-world use cases scaling, they are building the external sense of space that AI needs to move, think, and act.
