There are a few green sprouts of people waking up to what we are facing with AI and how important it is to get this into Web 3.0.
In an article titled OpenAI Isn’t ‘Too Big To Fail’ Yet – Users Can Still Own AI, the author goes through the potential of monopolistic control of companies such as OpenAi (along with other Big Tech). Since we are dealing with the most powerful technology ever created, it is something everyone should be taking note of.
Sadly, most are asleep at the wheel. Even those professing to be in Web 3.0 are doing little but playing it lip service. They might trade crypto, often utilizing centralized exchanges. At the same time, we see them touting their love for crypto on centralized platforms like X and YouTube.
All of this is simply feeding the centralized beast.
Ironic how people will not trust the banks, moving money out of there for crypto, will flock to Big Tech social media, pouring all their data into the hands of Musk and Zuckerberg.
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Web 3.0: An AI Wake Up Call
The only narrative that should matter is Web 3.0 and AI. This falls under the heading "Democratizing AI". It will include everything from compute to data. We need algorithms tied to Web 3.0 platforms while models are built on blockchains.
In other words, Web 3.0 needs to be the focus.
This is not something that can be delayed. We are looking at the fastest moving industry in human history. It is a very expensive game meaning the major corporations have a built in advantage.
At this point, many are aware of the threat of centralization, especially in the world of technology. The present Internet is nothing more than a siloed system with a handful of major companies in control.
Decentralization is the answer to this. As we enter the next phase, AI is going to be a basic premise.
Advantage Of Democratized AI
We are looking at a bottom-up paradigm.
This is something that is familiar to those who are involved in Web 3.0 system. Unlike the top-down approach which is favored by most businesses, this method favors many different actors contributing in many areas. There is little cohesion, especially to start. Over time, things start to fill in, merging together.
As the article notes, the top-down approach is what causes the "too big to fail".
We went though this with the financial industry. In fact, that is what, at least in part, triggered the innovation we know as Bitcoin. Are we going to wait until it is too late for us to take counter measures with AI?
Web 3.0 aims to put nobody in control. Everyone who is involved in the ecosystem gains as progress occurs. Each have a stake in what is taking place. This is a massive shift from the top-down where a small percentage tend to reap most of the benefits.
When it comes to AI stacks, this will enable everyone to have a piece.
The goal is to provide these services to anyone who wants to use them. This applies equally to users, developers and entrepreneurs.
Ultimately, it is the community that takes over as opposed to a major corporation.
Although the AI industry owes its current popularity and recent growth to OpenAI, championing emerging alternatives is mission-critical – to keep the corporation’s influence in check, if not anything else.
In the Web 2.0 era, internet users and communities didn’t have the tools to claim their stake – either on the value generated or on the tech stack.
AI users, however, still have the opportunity to do so, thanks to Web 3.0 innovations.
If the financial industry, with its archaic tools relatively speaking, could become "too big to fail", what makes people think that an OpenAI or someone company advancing at a rate of 10x-100x that of traditional institutions wouldn't be the same?
Humanity Coming To A Crossroads
The cryptocurrency/blockchain industry has the ability to change this. Unfortunately, since most of the focus is on "price go up" and green candles, it is shooting itself in the foot.
It is, however, the epitome of decentralization.
Public blockchains are a major boom here because they are permissionless databases. They are also open networks that anyone, with the technical know how, can run a node. Finally, the data can be pulled by any entity since the data is unowned.
Moving this one step further, tying the different layers of the software (AI) stack is crucial. Data is the starting point. Most of the data in the world is not open to humanity. This is something that blockchain solves.
We also need models that are structured in the same manner.
The challenge here is the exponential nature of data when tied to AI. OpenAI, as an example, has more data each time someone does a prompt. While there is debate about the quality, over time, of synthetic data, it nevertheless feeds the same company. We are only adding to he burden.
Here is where blockchain can alter things. If the results were also posted to an open database, the data is there for everyone.
As an aside, we should presume that, at some point, people figure out how to make synthetic data valuable. There are enough smart people working with algorithms that will figure how to enhance the utility.
If this is going exponential, which it is as more people utilize the services, do we want it on the hands of Google, OpenAI, Meta, and X? Is this the best future of humanity?
The optimistic part of this situation is people do have the ability to combat this. We have some of the basic tools before us. The question is what are we doing about it?
This is something that each person is going to have to ask for him or herself.
Fortunately, a few others are starting to wake up to what is happening.