We are at war, a war for the future of our world. Most of the media mankind consumes links in no way to this thought/idea. Without recognition of the idea that humanity is up against a great battle for a good future, we are currently an in-group. Together we understand the great potential of our future and recognize the necessity to act.
I have been involved with and many readers of this forum have read ideas on how to safely create artificial intelligence that is not misaligned with humanity. This idea that most of the companies in the world would treat Ai with higher regard than profit is grim. Today powerful engagement(extraction) algorithms run rampant online, rather than empowering us they deliver to us our limbic system wants, optimizing itself on becoming the best digital cigarette it can manage to be.
There are, however, media channels that not only provide a highly enjoyable experience but a highly educational one too. These channels break into the mass market of media and provide highly valuable education. Example of this is Exurb1a, Kurgzegat, Rational Animations, etc.
We live in a visual world where video content is currently the main way information is spread across the internet. The power of this is understated. I have been a part of building creators from 0 to 5 million subscribers in a single month and generating 500 million views. We forget the sheer size of these numbers and influence, and I like to reconcile in my mind with the physical representation of sports stadiums. Larger than any auditorium known to man full-sized stadium averages around 50,000 people, rarely filling up except for the most known games. Imagine being the center of attention, rather than an entire team of people and players on the sidelines, this is exactly what's happening on the phone (of course, more like a half-time show or quick speech rather than a full game)
Now, we are rapidly approaching a time when viral social media accounts are completely managed by Ai, which will be a smoking gun for the masses on the idea that Ai is going to transform our future. The capability for a single company to have mass leverage over the entire population's consumption of information is in front of us. If you consider this war and we are the party fighting for peace. Allowing a profit-driven company to become the leader in this field would be a disaster.
Recently, a user made a post detailing why he thought AGI timelines were considered too early. In the comments, it became clear that the semantic definition of AGI was holding back the more impact-focused timeline:
Greg Coulbourn founder of CEEALAR made this great point:
“FTX Future Fund cares about AI that poses an existential threat, not about whether such AI is AGI, or strong AI or true AI or whatever. Perhaps Transformative AI or TAI (as per OpenPhil's definition) would be better used in this case.”
Through thinking about transformational Ai as the time when Ai is used to massively shift the future of the world, I believe is in its soft launch phase, with companies that start today capable of completely changing mass opinion and narrative.
The internet's open-source attention facilities are going to become largely mined by Ai models through advancing automated content channels uploading en masse across platforms. This is the pendulum swing back towards a centralized content hub owning a large part of the attention economy again.
When Sam Altman (founder of OpenAi) was asked by Reid Hoffman last month about Ai companies starting today that would create the most enduring value he responded:
“I think there will be a middle layer that will be really important. There will be a whole new set of startups that take existing large models and tune it to create models. Those companies will create a lot of enduring value.”
Prolific investor at A16Z Andrew Chen came to a similar conclusion with the coming decline in cost to produce Ai video.
”With the wave of generative AI coming up, I've been thinking about the "$1000 blockbuster movie
Today millions of dollars (and hundreds of people) are needed to make a full length movie, a multiplayer game, or a multi-season TV series
But compare that to a humble book...
Writing a book just needs a laptop, coffee and lots of time. Not much money. Add up the laptop and all the coffees, and you maaaaybe spend $1000
What if an individual could make a full-length summer blockbuster movie by themselves with just a laptop and some coffee too?
It would be 100,000x leverage to be able to author a movie (or game, or TV series) - the same way that someone can write a book
It would require lots of effort and grit. It's not easy to write a good book - no diff from a great movie. But it would be possible when it's not today
What an explosion of content this would create! In every form.
I think of it as the next phase of lowering the cost of producing and publishing content online, the way that YouTube, Instagram, and other user-generated content platforms have democratized distribution
Many of us who are following the lightning-fast developments in generative AI intuitively know that the end outcome of these tools will change the process of creative work forever
It's incredible to see. But I am optimistic rather than cynical about these tools
The cynical view - that this will destroy whatever creative medium you enjoy - overlooks the incredible leverage this provides
This will increase by 10000000%s who can create movies, books, or otherwise. And make the content better as geniuses can increase their output”
Previously the bottleneck of content corporations was the cost of content. Given the largely human workforce needed and all the difficulties that come along with that.
With Ai video decreasing in cost by magnitudes and increasing in resolution rapidly this bottleneck is about to be opened up, allowing the company that builds the system for scale for Ai content creation to "take over" a large portion of the attention economy and take advantage of the compound interest in being early.
I intend for that company to be one built by people aligned with the idea of empowerment of mankind over profit. I believe this opportunity for global information dissemination to be one of the greatest opportunities for pushing humanity toward an aligned future if you feel a similar way. Please get in touch.
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StevenAiberg