Vitalik Buterin's donation of $600 million to the Future of Life Institute sparks controversy and confusion among observers. Some question the amount, with estimates varying from $600 million to $700 million in meme crypto. Reports suggest discrepancies in the valuation of the donation, with concerns raised about the transparency and impact of the funds. Buterin's unexpected contribution has led to scrutiny of the Institute's operations and calls for accountability.
On reflection this was an error from me. Sorry. Nothing I've said was false, but on new information @politico's article gave roughly the right picture (it still seems like @FLI_org got $100mns) so my correction was not the level of accuracy I aspire to. My bad. https://t.co/uqO3OJMGxS
What actually happened: @VitalikButerin sent FLI what he expected to be "$10-25m at most," At a time (2021), FLI was "a broad-spectrum anti-all-x-risks org that talked as loudly about bio and nukes as it did about AI, and x-risk was a very under-theorized topic." Glad to confirmโฆ https://t.co/XyzGfHbuzO
It looks plausible to me that @FLI_org got about half of the $700mn in dollars. (This is roughly the rate cryptorelief got) Do I owe apologies? Opinions welcome. The article is inaccurate but probably only by a factor of 2. If I'd known that then I wouldn't have tweeted. https://t.co/JKkA8DE1Fv
What is your opinion on the FLI situation and Vitalikโs donation of close to a billion dollars to likely the most anti-open source AI lobbying organization few years ago ? How does he un-oopsy the situation ? https://t.co/sSdE7JoaCQ cc @VitalikButerin @pmarca @ylecun
The @politico article about @FLI_org and @VitalikButerin is inaccurate. While the donations was $700mn in meme crypto, it was worth a "significantly lower average price" when converted to dollars. ht @JgaltTweets https://t.co/NoJACCCj6h https://t.co/va4K0kS6Qo
Why can't I find The Future of Life Institute's 2021 Tax Filing? Did @FLI_org stop operating as a non-profit after receiving half a billion dollars from Buterin? https://t.co/F7hDGRdEMp
I'm confused about this FLI donation. I was under the impression that it probably wasn't worth nearly $600mn. But @politico states it was declared to have that value.
Does anyone play both sides as flagrantly as @VitalikButerin? He says he's warm to techno-optimism, but gives $666B to the Future of Life Institute, which wants to Pause AI development and centralize control under a global AI Safety bureaucracy. He should act more principled. https://t.co/tPlmc6kKKR
it's kinda wild seeing the same folks who were hyping up vitalik for his d/acc blog post a few months back now totally dragging him for donating $665m to the future of life institute. sure, we can have different opinions, but it was his cash to splash in whatever way he saw fit.โฆ https://t.co/TAOXKknBqn
Why'd vitalik give $600m to AI safety, is he decel now? I just asked @VitalikButerin on Farcaster where he tends to hang out more these days. Will post a response if i get one. Using screenshots so it doesn't get link nerfed. https://t.co/AO3h5aHY41 https://t.co/K1e0dIrqPD