Microsoft Technology Licensing has submitted a patent application, US-20260349820-A1, titled 'Opportunistic Micro-training on Edge Devices Using Spare GPU Utilization,' filed in April 2025 and made public on November 5. If developed, this could enable PC owners to earn credits or cash by training AI models on their idle GPUs. The system chops large training jobs into small micro-tasks sized for each device, then sends them to phones, laptops, and gaming PCs when spare capacity is available.
Owners must explicitly opt in, after which the system tracks work and applies credits redeemable for free software, model access, or money. To stay out of the way, it monitors GPU and CPU load, memory use, temperature, and power draw, checking less often when the GPU is busy or hot. Tasks can be paused or stopped if limits are crossed, and results are cross-checked to catch faulty work.
The filing doesn't give a payout rate or list supported hardware, and Microsoft hasn't announced a service, so it's uncertain if rewards cover extra electricity. This is only an application, and many never become products. Open AI's Sam Altman argued that idle RAM in PCs is a poor use of supply, but with graphics card prices climbing, paying for idle silicon is tempting. However, the Copilot for Gaming fiasco last year is a reminder to read the fine print.
Many have reservations about AI training on personal hardware.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing