In March 2024, it was revealed that AI doomerism is backed by over a BILLION DOLLARS, with significant contributions from cryptocurrency fortunes. The Future of Life Institute (FLI) became a $665.8 million organization in May 2021, largely due to a notable donation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This funding, often referred to as a "crypto war chest," has been used to support existing "AI Existential Risk" organizations and establish new ones, sparking the #Shibagate controversy. Critics have raised concerns about the influence of crypto wealth on the movement advocating for AI safety and regulations, comparing it to the effective altruism funding scandal and questioning the alignment with Buterin's manifesto against centralized power.
Crypto money secretly funding AI doomerism, lobbying for AI regulations, and effectively working against open source AI platforms. https://t.co/k3T3WWVsfs
I simply can not square Vitalik's $665 million donation to FLI with the following paragraph from his "d/acc" manifesto: "I see far too many plans to save the world that involve giving a small group of people extreme and opaque power and hoping that they use it wisely." https://t.co/DZjmIdM4ib https://t.co/Ul2YeT2Nmq
AI Doomerism is funded by crypto shitcoin returns. This is the EA funding scandal all over again. https://t.co/8yYtkfz4ho
A $665M crypto war chest roils AI safety fight https://t.co/a0ONSnDgW9
vitalik sending his airdropped shiba inu to an ai safety non profit might have created one of the most well funded war chests in dc https://t.co/JIhJL6RmO6
In May 2021, the Future of Life Institute became a 665.8-million-dollar organization. It's only now, in March 2024, that we learn the magnitude of Buterin's donation. FLI used it to fund existing "AI Existential Risk" organizations and created new ones. #Shibagate https://t.co/FMdlB2ZKca
The AI doomers have over a BILLION DOLLARS behind them. We need to organise We need to fund raise We need to resist the rise of COMPUTER SCIENCETOLOGY https://t.co/h7salfusRN
AI doomer dark money astroturf update. https://t.co/qczE25wAeh https://t.co/iblkXvYKxk