Got you.

IMHO, if a project is hard or even impossible to monetize, this doesn't mean developers won't work for it for a goal higher than money, such as the fundamental human right to freedom of speech. This happens all the time with free and open source software, as well as with software developed as a form of activism.

Relays may be a bit of a higher burden, because "working" for free is one thing, one many do (in the software world), but spending money is another. It's why open source isn't as successful in deep learning: it's not about the amount of work training models take, it's about its economical cost.