Oracle Machines &Outsourced Computation

The three pillars: see, think, act

Qubic describes its architecture as three pillars working together. Smart contracts are the brain — they execute directly on bare metal (no virtual machine) for sub-second finality and are feeless for end users. But logic alone is sealed off from reality. That's where the other two pillars come in: Oracle Machines are the eyes and ears, and Outsourced Computation is the hands.

Oracle Machines: data built into consensus

Oracle Machines let contracts request real-world information — currency prices, event outcomes, sensor readings. The critical difference from conventional oracles is that Qubic's are built into consensus itself. Rather than trusting an external data provider, the Computors independently confirm the oracle's reply, and only once the quorum agrees does the verified result get written to the chain. Contracts can request a one-time answer or subscribe to a continuous feed — ideal for DeFi lending, prediction markets, and parametric insurance. Oracle Machines have been live on mainnet since February 2026.

Outsourced Computation: authorized action, on the outside

Outsourced Computation is often misunderstood — it has nothing to do with renting out compute power. It is the mechanism that lets a Qubic smart contract send an authorized instruction outward to a system that then carries it out. It is fire-and-forget: the contract issues an intent, the network authorizes and delivers it, and the job is done. If the contract needs confirmation, it simply asks an Oracle Machine.

The authorization flow is what makes it trustworthy:

• A smart contract invokes an outsourced computation during execution and pays a fee.
• Every Computor executing the contract records the request parameters into a core data structure.
• Computors independently sign the request.
• Once 451 of the 676 Computors have signed, the request is authorized.
• Each Computor forwards the signed bundle to its processor — a separate machine built to carry out the specific off-chain task.

A full sense–think–act loop

Together the pillars turn isolated contracts into autonomous agents. Consider a parametric crop insurance contract: it monitors rainfall through Oracle Machines, runs its payout logic on-chain, uses Outsourced Computation to release funds — even on another chain via a cross-chain bridge — and confirms receipt through a final oracle query. No intermediaries, and every step carries the same security guarantee as the blockchain itself. This same foundation powers Qubic's decentralized AI research.