Why results from a stranger’s computer can be believed
Verification on the Open Compute Network does not rest on reputation alone. A fraction of all dispatched work has an answer the network already knows, indistinguishable from real work, so a machine returning a plausible fabrication is caught immediately. A sample of genuine work is recomputed on a second, unrelated machine and the two results compared. The sampling rate follows the machine's record but never falls to zero, because a machine that knows it will never be checked has been handed a licence. Machines with a measured boot chain or a confidential execution environment carry a higher trust tier.
- Known-answer work is dispatched down the ordinary path and paid for by the network.
- A sample of real work is recomputed on an unrelated machine and compared.
- The re-check rate never falls below 1%, however long a machine's clean record.
- Hardware attestation is available as a higher trust tier at a published premium.
- Verification proves the computation was correct; it does not hide the data from the machine, which is what the confidential tier is for.
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