“I checked, therefore I believe.” (Peter Diamondis) This might be new standard in a world of ubiquitous AI. Seeing is no longer believing. In a world of abundance, trust will be one of the currencies that remains scarce.
A brilliant visionary, mathematician, hedge fund manager and founder of Stability AI – Emad Mostaque agrees. In his new book The Last Economy, he makes a number of predictions that he backs mathematically. Standing on the side of the pessimists, he believes our transition will be very rocky. But he is not giving up or simply prognosticating. He is putting skin in the game. His Foundation Coin uses a “Proof-of-Benefit” mechanism that only mints coins when validators confirm that useful work has been performed for the common good, such as training AI models or conducting cancer research or research on Autism. Take that, dystopians.
Mostaque argues that every person should have their own AI—not to replace their humanity, but to help improve it. In the linked conversation with Tom Bilyeu, he makes the case that keeping AI democratized, not concentrated in a few hands, is key to protecting humanity. And, he is not pointificating – he is putting his compute where his mouth is and actively investing his time, energy and capital into the opportunity. Even if you don’t want to read the book, buying it will support the work, and the interview below is a good way to get a partial digest of the discussion.
In the meantime, how will you know what to believe? How will you verify?
