Blog: Coming Soon

The internet and social media sites started out as magical places. They held intrigue, untapped power, and  in the early 2000's, they were unmarred by profiteers. I remember anxiously waiting for the day that my parents would let me create an Instagram account because I thought it would make me more popular in school. Fast forward 20 years and social media has devolved into a wasteland of addictive sensations with the singular goal of keeping our attention to sell more ads. My friends and I are fed up with Instagram and the envy it has created and the time it has stolen. But, I am not completely cynical because the internet has produced many silver linings. Google Maps helps me explore the world (for free and ad free), Youtube has taught me new skills, and even Instagram has helped me make new friends and curate new hobbies. Those silver linings are the product of hardworking people who insisted on a social good aspect of their apps over maximum profit.

I see AI as an opportunity to not repeat the mistakes we made with social media and build more silver linings. New language and multimodal models are viewed the same way as those early renditions of Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. With mystique, and untapped potential. And now we are nearing an inflection point when the AI companies must decide if they will prioritize people, or if they will over polish the models to squeeze every dollar. We can’t afford to let AI consolidate into the hands of a few with the singular purpose of making those hands richer. The gears of capitalism are not enough to keep new technology safe, it takes people who care about people to guide its development. I aim to be one of those people.