Do you think data is important? Or are you still ignoring this issue?
It is something we discussed repeatedly over the past 6 months. To me, this is one of the most important issues of our time.
Humanity is at a crossroads: Is the future going to be one of freedom and innovation, with many companies bringing new technologies to market.
Or are we going to see one that is ruled by Big Tech. This is something that we saw in the digital world over the last few decades, as that became siloed. The challenge is, if you thought that was bad, now hand these entities ever increasing powers from the technological advancement.
My view is the answer should be clear.
We can see how major a topic this is by looking beyond simple data.
Data Centers As A New Asset Class
If data is not important, why is Big Tech dumping so much money into housing and processing it.
We are seeing operations that are multi-billions of dollars.
“This [data center] asset class if very unique. Each one of these buildings could cost $4-5B. You’re talking about power numbers we’ve never encountered in this business.
And what’s amazing about it is them is that that the power, which is difficult to get, becomes the constraint, so you don’t have oversupply of these data centers.”
This is actually a drop in the bucket. When we look at the price tag, we are looking at what is being spent today. In other words, $5B will soon be the starting point.
Who can forget the jaw dropping announcement that Microsoft and OpenAI made about their agreement to build a $100 billion data center. It is likely this becomes the norm.
In a recent CNBC interview, Jeff Bleau, CEO of real estate giant Related Companies, highlighted data centers as a groundbreaking asset class in the real estate industry. He described them as “the most incredible asset class” of his career, emphasizing their unique power demands and scarcity, which prevent oversupply. Bleau explained that each data center can cost $4-5 billion to construct, and securing the required power is a significant constraint, making these facilities highly valuable.
The challenge here is that all of this is the epitome of centralization. With these numbers, only the biggest players are involved. This is not something that a start up will be involved with.
Of course, these is being fed data that is becoming increasing locked down. Here is where a choice is required.
Image generated by Ideogram
The Value Of Data
Blockchain is the first part of the solution. As with anything dealing with artificial intelligence, data is the starting point.
The reason why blockchains, for the most part, have little value is because the data is not worth much. The decentralized world has done an awful job adding to the databases. Instead, the majority of the participants spend their time on Web 2.0 platforms, feeding the same Big Tech entities.
Even when choosing some alternatives, such as a Rumble, this is still a centralized entity owned by a company. Each video uploaded there is on their servers.
It is safe to say these companies would not spend billions (soon to move to tens of billions) of dollars on these centers if there was not a a future fortune awaiting them. It is likely we will see a $10 trillion company by the end of the decade, a number that could rise to $25 trillion if things keep advancing at the present pace.
Consider what that world will look like 5-10 years after that. It is a lot of power, along with wealth, in the hands of one company. Of course, there will be others who follow suit.
What will not happen is smaller entities getting into the game. Unless AI is truly democratized, we are looking at Web 2.0 but on steroids. Again, it all starts with the data.
There is another transformation that is going to take place. All of this comes down to energy. The currency of the future is likely to be related to the joule or kilowatt. Energy output is crucial going forward to keep these centers running.
Here is where distributed computing can help. Big tech is already working on ways to utilize this with their centers. However, we have to take it even further, down to the individual level.
Naturally, that is something outside the scope of this article but we will dive into it in the future.
For the moment, we have to realize the thirst for data and who is after it. Equally as important is why they want it. If we understand this, then we can start the process of counteracting their moves.
OpenAi spent years building its database to train ChatGPT. This is something the decentralized world must do. It is crucial to get AI tied to blockchain.