Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful developments humanity has ever seen. It is also one that is, by default, extremely centralized.
Training of large language models (LLM) is already into the billions of dollars. It is believe this could end up moving into the trillions. We see data centers being discussed that run more than $100 billion.
Of course, we are only dealing with LLMs. We have no idea what things will look like with real world training models, especially for spatial intelligence. This could have an even larger price tag.
In other words, we are only discussing the biggest of players in this game. Here is where the centralization enters. Big Tech is already dominating and that will likely be the case.
To balance this, we need a decentralizing force. This is where blockchain enters. To say that Web 3.0 does not have a crucial role to play in the future is a misleading.
It is vital to the path forward.
Image generated by Ideogram
Blockchain To Counter AI's Centralization
Building the LLMs is only the first step for these major technology companies.
Once they have them, a host of front ends and applications are going to be tied to them. We already see this with the chatbots. That was the first product they rolled out.
Naturally, anything we do on the company's front end is fed into their server system. This means that, as we use the product, we aid in the generation of more information which they control. This is fed back into the training of future models.
The point here is we are discussing one product. It is say to conclude that these entities are going to roll out a host of them. We are already seeing images, videos, and conversations. Consider the data that can result as millions of people "talk" to these chatbots, interacting with it like a personal assistant.
While this technology is spectacular for humanity, the key is control. If we keep feeding these companies, the network effects mandate they will only get more powerful. We already saw this with Web 2.0 and social media. It is also evident with Amazon, Spotify, and a host of other companies.
The Internet became a realm where "the winner took most".
In spite of the original vision, it became a forum of centralized entities that control most of the traffic. Sadly, most are still feeding these companies at every opportunity.
AI in only going to push us deeper into this reality unless we do something to counteract it. Whether it is Google, Meta, or OpenAi, any entity involved seeks to control. Individuals might have their preference but it is the same: feeding the Big Tech beast.
Since it requires an ever growing amount of compute and data to train models, this is their forte. They are the few who can afford (along with having the technical expertise) to pull this off.
From humanity's perspective, this might not be a rosy situation.
Blockchain Is The Answer
Blockchain is decentralized.
Certainly we can look at individual networks and contest this statement. That said, when taken in totality, the number of networks being rolled out is decentralized. Many of them are open source which means they can be forked. They are also public, enabling anyone to write to them. The data becomes part of the public domain as nobody owns it.
The biggest challenge is the exponential nature of this technology. We are seeing such a fierce race because getting left behind in any manner is fatal. With exponentials, the gap will only widen over time.
Network effects create very powerful feedback loops. When we look at something like an OpenAI, we can already see how this is already in place with what it released already. This will only grow as they bring more products to market.
If a future with the likes of technology billionaires running everything is appealing to you, then there is little to discuss. However, if this is something that does not sit well with you, then it might be best to start thinking in different terms.
To me, this is blockchain.
It is crucial that AI be tied to blockchain in as many ways as possible.
What we are dealing with the concept of centralized planning and governance versus decentralized. If the tech companies have the full power that comes from these developments, they are going to be able to steer things as they want.
Essentially, since AI is the basis for the economy, this is the potential for a centrally planned economy. Throughout history, that has proven to be a failure. It will not change with the advent of LLMs.
For this reason, I think blockchain is a crucial part of the equation. We also need to focus upon pushing things further away from the mega-conglomerates. This starts with each token and where it is processed.
In other words, we have to do our best to divert the network effects away from centralized to decentralized systems.
Everything that gets built or added to blockchain is another weapon in the arsenal for humanity. Over time, these can be leveraged for even larger benefits, i.e. network effects taking hold.
Before that happens, we have to grind at the foundation. OpenAI didn't start the business and instantly have one of the leading AI products. It had to spend years accumulating the data along with building the models to train.
It is a process but one that is vital to the future of our economy and society as a whole.