What is NANDA? A Look Into the Future of Decentralized AI Agents
April 18, 2025 By Yodaplus
Introduction
As the world explores Agentic AI and intelligent collaboration at scale, a new initiative out of MIT is reimagining how AI agents connect, communicate, and cooperate. Enter NANDA—an ambitious effort to create the “Internet of AI Agents.”
Unlike traditional AI systems that function in isolation, NANDA (short for Network Architecture for a Noncentralized Decentralized AI) proposes a decentralized architecture where AI agents:
- Discover and identify each other across distributed networks
- Authenticate interactions securely
- Search and query across shared knowledge bases
- Trace and verify exchanges for transparency and accountability
NANDA is not just a conceptual framework. It’s an evolving protocol stack—built upon tools like Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP)—that creates the necessary infrastructure for scalable, verifiable, and secure AI agent collaboration.
Core Components of NANDA
The ecosystem is structured around four major layers:
- Protocol Layer
Facilitates agent-to-agent communication and ensures interoperability across distributed systems. - Developer Tools
Provides SDKs, APIs, and interfaces to help developers build and deploy applications within the NANDA framework. - Infrastructure Layer
Maintains registries for agents, metadata, tools, and services. This layer ensures trust and discovery within the network. - Applications Layer
Supports real-world integrations by enabling client- and server-side apps to plug directly into the decentralized network.
Together, these components enable autonomous agents to perform complex, multi-party tasks in a cooperative environment—with minimal friction.
The Five Pillars of the NANDA Architecture
Professor Ramesh Raskar and the MIT Media Lab have defined five key design principles—or pillars—that differentiate NANDA from centralized AI models:
- BreachLess (Privacy)
It uses privacy-preserving technologies like homomorphic encryption and secure multiparty computation to protect data during processing. - TrustLess (Verifiability)
Through cryptographic proofs and distributed logs, all interactions are transparent and verifiable without centralized trust anchors. - BrokerLess (Incentives)
It introduces decentralized incentive mechanisms—ensuring participants are fairly rewarded for contributions without intermediaries. - CoordinatorLess (Orchestration)
Instead of relying on a central authority, agents coordinate and plan autonomously using consensus and shared protocols. - FrictionLess (User Experience)
Despite its technical complexity, NANDA is being designed with accessible interfaces that encourage adoption beyond the developer community.
Real-World Applications of NANDA
NANDA’s architecture isn’t theoretical—it has real implications for industry. Here’s how decentralized AI agents could transform key sectors:
Healthcare
Hospitals can collaborate on diagnostics and treatment recommendations while preserving patient confidentiality.
Finance
Banks can analyze fraud patterns collectively across borders without compromising proprietary data.
Supply Chain
Vendors, manufacturers, and distributors can jointly optimize logistics without exposing trade secrets.
Mobility & Smart Cities
Municipalities can improve traffic flow and emergency response using data shared between autonomous systems.
These applications illustrate how NANDA allows secure multi-agent collaboration in sensitive environments—unlocking new layers of efficiency, trust, and innovation.
How to Join the NANDA Ecosystem
MIT is actively inviting collaboration. Individuals and organizations can get involved by:
- Hosting a node or mirror of the NANDA registry
- Connecting APIs or launching agent-based applications
- Contributing to open-source tools and libraries
- Participating in working groups on Edge AI, Agentic AI, Knowledge Markets, and AI Privacy
Being part of the NANDA community offers early access to a transformative AI infrastructure and a front-row seat to the future of agent coordination.
Final Thoughts
NANDA represents a bold rethinking of how autonomous systems interact—not just as isolated tools, but as collaborative agents in a distributed, privacy-preserving network. With its robust architectural design and clear practical applications, NANDA could serve as the backbone of tomorrow’s AI ecosystem.
At Yodaplus, we actively explore emerging Artificial Intelligence solutions, including agentic architectures and decentralized AI frameworks like NANDA. Our focus is on helping enterprises build secure, scalable, and intelligent systems that align with the future of autonomous technology.
To learn more or get involved, visit: nanda.media.mit.edu