Fluence is described as the first decentralized "Cloudless" computing platform. It aims to offer an alternative to traditional centralized internet services by removing the risks associated with centralized control, subjective censorship, and data lock-in. The platform is built on the principles of trustlessness and verifiability. Trustlessness is achieved through crypto-economic incentives for DePIN operators, and verifiability is ensured by cryptographic proofs for all computations. Fluence aggregates CPU resources from top-tier data centers worldwide, creating a global, resilient, and always-on decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) platform. This setup allows companies to go cloudless, thereby avoiding subjective censorship and data lock-in​​.

Fluence serves a variety of use cases, particularly in providing decentralized, verifiable computing resources. It enables the proof that AI engines are trained on specific data sets and ensures that queries are executed without manipulation. This is especially important for running open, decentralized AI models free from hidden corporate bias, thereby guaranteeing transparent, open, and uncensored outputs. Fluence's infrastructure supports serverless and verifiable compute jobs, promising cost savings up to 80% for developers and customers, who can pay with USDC or any ERC-20 token. The platform's design caters to compute providers, delegators/token holders, and customers/developers, facilitating a decentralized ecosystem for computing resources​​.

The creation and development of Fluence are attributed to Fluence Labs, with Tom Trowbridge mentioned as a co-founder. The project's inception was driven by the ambition to provide a decentralized computing alternative, free from the constraints of proprietary corporate infrastructure. Fluence Labs' vision was to enable builders to create cutting-edge products without being restricted by centralized backends. The official launch of the Fluence platform and the $FLT token on the Ethereum mainnet marked a significant milestone towards achieving this vision. Fluence is also noted for its governance through the Fluence DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), which was incorporated in Switzerland in early 2024, emphasizing community governance and control over the protocol in a decentralized manner​​.