Call it a "blog"! Call it a "newsletter"! Call it "ideas from Hank"!

So, what is ChatGPT? In a nutshell, it's an AI trained on text data. It can help people summarize long articles, emails, and meetings, and generate human-like language to write articles, emails, contracts, and more. It works by analyzing large amounts of text data and correlating the relevance and context of words in sentence structures. OpenAI also released DALL-E 2, a sibling to ChatGPT, which generates digital images and art based on training from millions of artists' work and internet photos. Some of these images are virtually indistinguishable from photographs taken by human photographers using analog cameras.

This technology has enormous potential to boost productivity and output for millions of workers worldwide. However, it also raises the possibility that some traditionally "knowledge" or "white-collar" jobs may be automated away or require less human oversight. A key question is whether AI will replace people or create super productive humans, with far-reaching implications for society, education, and information consumption.

There are some concerns with AI technology, like potential biases in AI programming and ensuring training data is factually accurate rather than dummy data. How can publishers and creators ensure that these systems don't infringe on their work? Is there any such thing as AI alignment? For a thought-provoking take on that question, check out the film "Ex Machina."

The potential future of artificial intelligence can be a bit concerning, with visions of rogue AI systems like the one in the film "Eagle Eye." But let's focus on more uplifting possibilities and ways to harness AI to build systems that better reflect our society. I believe a critical piece of infrastructure for achieving this is a blockchain.

Blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that securely stores data in a tamper-proof way. It's like a truth machine that can't be manipulated by any single party. Many experts believe blockchain could be the key to unlocking AI's full potential while ensuring it remains aligned with our values and societal goals. In my opinion, blockchain and cryptography are not just "nice-to-have" features but essential components.

Without a truth machine, AI lacks trust. Combining the truth machine with AI unlocks a whole new world. The internet unleashed a wealth of information, but as we grapple with analysis paralysis, society has become more polarized than ever. This polarization stems from a lack of trust and consensus in our information sources. With our society lacking such a critical piece of infrastructure, we are vulnerable to simple asymmetrical information exploits, like the former president labeling unpleasant stories as "fake news."

I hope this offers some perspective on the recent hype surrounding AI technology. While it's undoubtedly cool and useful, it's essentially a new feature in the tools we've been using to process data and gain actionable insights. As a society, we have reached the phase where we need to be able to trust the data we take actions on, be able to trade & exchange with partners at the speed in which information becomes available, have trust in our political leaders & have systems in place so that the public can hold them accountable. In the next few weeks we are going to start getting deeper into the truth machine, I hope you’re going to stick around.

Are You Feelin’ Moody?

INRI