Decentralized deepfake Detection – Need Feedback on Architecture & Decentralization

This is actually my bachelor's graduation project, and I'm trying to build a demo of a decentralized deepfake detection system. Since I'm relatively new to blockchain, AI, P2P networks, and federated learning, I'd really appreciate any feedback on my approach.

Goal of the Project

I want to create a decentralized system where anyone can check if an image or video is a deepfake without relying on a central authority. The AI model used for detection should continuously improve over time as deepfake techniques evolve. The system should be community-driven, with contributors rewarded for running inference models or helping update the AI model.

Current Technical Architecture

The system is built as a P2P network using libp2p, with three types of participants:

1. End users – Submit deepfake detection requests.

2. Worker nodes – Run inference on AI models to detect deepfakes.

3. Federated learning nodes – Train and improve the AI model, which workers later download.

Blockchain is used to reward worker and federated nodes with tokens for their contributions.

Workflow:

1. A user submits a detection request via a frontend (likely hosted on IPFS for permanence).

2. The frontend communicates with a gateway node in the P2P network.

3. The gateway node distributes the request to worker nodes running the AI model, distribution mechanism for now is just simple round-robin.

4. The worker node publishes the result back to the network.

5. The gateway sends the result to the frontend and updates the smart contract to reward the worker.

6. Separately, federated learning nodes train a new model and upload it to IPFS, and worker nodes periodically download the latest model.

Main Concern – The Centralized Gateway Node

Right now, the gateway node is a single point of failure and controls task distribution. If someone modifies its code, they could manipulate task assignments or block certain nodes from participating.

I considered hashing the gateway’s code and making the smart contract only interact with a verified gateway, but I don’t think that’s possible. Also, calling the smart contract for every task completion might cause scalability issues due to gas fees.

Questions & Challenges

How can I decentralize the gateway node?

Is task distribution better handled on-chain, or should workers interact with the contract directly?

How do similar decentralized AI projects prevent manipulation?

Should I rethink the entire architecture for better scalability and decentralization?

This is just an early-stage demo, and I know security, task verification, and reputation systems and other stuff need to be added later. Right now, I want to get the architecture right before moving forward.

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.