A token system can incentivize cooperation in a hostile environment with selfish nodes. But in a friendly environment you might not need the same level of incentives.
I see some similarity here to the world of private torrent trackers. You want a Linux ISO, I want a Linux ISO, we're all working towards the same goal. So we're already incentivized to cooperate, without getting money involved. And trackers also have things like minimum seeding ratios to keep people honest. In the case of AI, you and I both want to generate images, so we're also working towards the same goal, so let's help each other out so both of our workloads finish faster. Maybe idealistic, but I think it could work.
I see some similarity here to the world of private torrent trackers. You want a Linux ISO, I want a Linux ISO, we're all working towards the same goal. So we're already incentivized to cooperate, without getting money involved. And trackers also have things like minimum seeding ratios to keep people honest. In the case of AI, you and I both want to generate images, so we're also working towards the same goal, so let's help each other out so both of our workloads finish faster. Maybe idealistic, but I think it could work.