# AO the computer Explained to Ethereum ppl

Source: https://x.com/_weidai/status/1826621474008129600
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/AO-the-computer-Explained-to-Ethereum-ppl?index=0x66c7f209e1fab1de7158b5c63a5d5e71ffcbdd97e82613cdabd0950be16518a65e30d868
Submitted by qiaoliang.eth on 2024-08-23 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments

## Summary

AO, described as a computer built by Arweave, is presented as a sovereign rollup that uses Arweave as its data availability layer, made up of an arbitrary number of processes that each roughly equate to a rollup, with initial support for WASM containers. The article names three staked node types: Message units (MUs) relay messages between users and scheduling units, Scheduling units (SUs) act as lazy sequencers that set process ordering, and Compute units (CUs) conduct and attest to computation. It states that AO uses fraud proofs and slashing for cryptoeconomic security and promises configurable economic security per process. The author notes that where fraud proof challenges and settlement occur, given Arweave does not support execution, is not answered in the whitepaper.

## Article

AO the computer, explained in 120 words with Ethereum lingo

Have you came across @aoTheComputer by Arweave but couldn't quite read through the whitepaper? Here's a TL;DR for the AO whitepaper using language familiar to anyone who understands rollups.

Click to read 👇

120 words. Ready? Here we go.
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AO is a sovereign rollup using Arweave as DA. AO consists of arbitrary number of processes, each roughly equivalent to a rollup, with initial support for WASM containers.

There are three types of (staked) nodes in AO:
1. Message units (MUs) are relayers that relay messages between users and scheduling units (see below).
2. Scheduling units (SUs) are lazy sequencers that determine ordering to an AO process.
3. Compute units (CUs) conduct and attest to computation
(Note: MU + CU is roughly equivalent to a rollup sequencer)

Each node is require to stake since AO uses fraud proofs and slashing to provide cryptoeconomic security for computation on AO. Under this setup, AO promises configurable economic security for each process.
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There are questions not answered above and are rather hard to obtain from just the whitepaper, such as where exactly does fraud proof challenges and settlement happen when Arweave does not support execution.

If you'd like to learn more, I encourage you to read through the AO whitepaper using the above as a cheatsheet.