The world is filled with talk of AI and for good reason. We are looking at potentially the most powerful technology humanity ever created. In fact, some question whether we will control it, instead opting to developing something that ultimately destroys us.
While the long term outcomes are impossible to forecast, we are starting to see the impact upon jobs. Eventually, this will spread to the degree where the economy, as a whole, is transformed.
But what does this mean?
Here is where things get confusing. We can already see the potential for massive increase in economy output. Simply looking at the amount of information that is generated daily by prompts to ChatGPT, Gemini, LLama, and Grok reveals the power of chatbots. We see this expanding to image and video generation. Of course, many are working on "real world AI" as that is seen as the next beacon for the industry.
How does this impact society?
That is the question that many are wresting with. The entities behind the AI development are large, wealthy, and garner a lot of market share. If this happens with AI, what happens to the general population, especially of nations not in this race?
To many, the answer resides in the idea of decentralized AI. As discussed over a number of years, this starts with data. That, however, is not enough.
In this article we will look at some of the concepts and a project that seeks to alter the balance.
For the last couple years I wrote how the democratization of data was crucial to humanity's future. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears as people, even those involved in Web3, kept feeding Elon Musk, Google, and Meta.
The AI stack, naturally, involves a great deal more than just data. It is only one component of a much larger system of development. This is something that Big Tech spend years erecting, dating back to Google's earliest days of website indexing.
Lightning AI is a venture that seeks to bring Web 3.0 architecture to the AI world.
Consider a model that serves humanity rather than manipulating it—a model trained across thousands of anonymous nodes, inherently resistant to data poisoning and censorship. No corporation owns it. No government controls it. Lightchain AI ensures that artificial intelligence remains where it should always have belonged—in the hands of the people.
The key here is ownership. With Big Tech, we know who the owner, hence, major beneficiary is. While the world will get to utilize the technology, the bulk of the profits go towards a few entities. Ultimately, this means a small handful of shareholders (mostly institutions) who benefit.
Inherently, there is nothing wrong with this if other options are available. These companies are investing tends of billions into the development of these systems with no guarantee of success.
That said, reverting back to the premise mentioned above, what happens if job destruction takes place to the degree where society is completely reshaped?
Here is where we see a overwhelming issue.
What does the world need?
It all boils down to collective intelligence. The discussion always focuses upon artificial intelligence, specifically the levels such as AGI and ASI. Nevertheless, the collective part is overlooked.
Lightchain AI is building the infrastructure to protect the collective intelligence of the internet itself. Every inference is verified, every node held accountable, and every update validated by consensus. Through cryptographic security, federated governance, and radical transparency, Lightchain AI ensures that the AI supporting the digital world remains incorruptible.
One of the issues I foresee with our present AI path is the fact that we are taking a siloed system (the Internet) and enhancing it.
If we look at the top platforms (websites), the data of each is separate. Meta is now sharing with Google. Amazon is separate from X. Apple has a closed ecosystem on every level.
This is why people have dozens of passwords and usernames. The entities do not "talk" to each other.
With AI, we are simply putting this on steroids. We see the capabilities expand rapidly yet they systems are only as good as the data. Unfortunately, for the individual, the data is spread everywhere.
For Big Tech, the answer is simple: place all the data in one place. Naturally, this means use only the system that particular entity constructs. These companies seek exclusivity. It might be the case that people gravitate towards this simply because the digital realm is one of "winner take most".
Who is compiling the most data from people on a daily basis?
As we can see, Lightchain AI seeks to change this. By focusing upon things from the node level, the concept of Web 3.0 is being introduced. Of course, for those who follow it, SingularityNet and Ben Goertzel have been on this quest for almost a decade.
Even if these tools are built, providing the public with decentralized applications, will they utilize them? That is a major question. The early days of Web 3.0 are revealing how the early results are that people are hesitant to change.
Perhaps this entire process gets derailed by the lazy and natural self-centeredness of people.
