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Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

reuters.com

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Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#91
post #45

"It will focus on building a small highly trusted team of researchers and engineers split between Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel." Why Tel Aviv in Israel ?

Because it's a startup hub, there is great engineering talent there, and the cost of living is lower than the US.

Cost of living is extremely high in Tel Aviv, but the rest is true.

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#92

Safe superintelligence is a misnomer. If it’s intelligent, it knows what must be done. If it can’t, it’s not super or intelligent.

I don't see how this argument makes any sense. Imagine that you have a sentient super intelligent computer, but it's completely airgapped and cut off from the rest of the world. As long as it stays that way it's both safe and super intelligent, no?

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#93
post #70
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is significant possibility that true AI (what Ilia calls superintelligence) is impossible to build using neural networks. So it is closer to some tokenbro project than to nuclear research. Or he will simply shift goalposts, and call some LLM superintelligent.

> There is significant possibility that true AI (what Ilia calls superintelligence) is impossible to build using neural networks What evidence can you provide to back up the statement of this "significant possibility"? Human brains use neural networks...

no, there's really no comparing barely nonlinear algrebra that makes up transformers and the tangled mess that is human neurons. the name is an artifact and a useful bit of salesmanship.

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#95
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one had built a nuclear bomb before the Manhattan project either.

Theoretical foundation was slowly built over decades before it started though. And correct me if I'm wrong, but calculations that it was feasible were present before the start too. They had to calculate how to do it, what will be the processes, how to construct it and so on, but theoretically scientists knew that this amount of material can start such process. On the other hand not only there is no clear path to AI t…

There are algorithms that should work, they're just galactic[0] or are otherwise expected to use far too much space and time to be practical.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_algorithm

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#96
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ilya went to university in israel and all founders are jewish. Many labs have offices outside of the US, like london, due to crazy immigration law in the us.

Many companies have offices outside because of talent pools, costs, and other regional advantages. Though I am sure some of it is due to immigration law, I don't believe that is generally the main factor. Plus the same could be said for most other countries.

Part of it may also be a way to mitigate potential regulatory risk. Israel thus far does not have an equivalent to something like SB1047 (the closest they've come is participation in the Council of Europe AI treaty negotiations), and SSI will be well-positioned to lobby against intrusive regulation domestically in Israel.

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#98
post #13

$1B raise, $5B valuation. For a company that is a couple months old and doesn't have a product or even a single line of code in production. Wild.

Totally blind on this, hoping for someone to shed some light: do these investors get some pitch, information or some roadmap of what company intends to create, how will it earn revenue, how will it spend money or how will it operate?

I heard this on a reddit thread a while back but rings very true here.

> If you are seeking capital for a startup with a product, you have to sell the startup on realities (ie how much revenue you are making). If you are seeking capital for a startup with no product, you can sell the startup on dreams, which is much much easier but also way riskier for investors.

Since these guys don't have a product yet, they 100% sold it on big dreams combined with Ilya's track record at OpenAI.

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#99
At what point can we start agreeing that all these obscene investments and ridiculous valuations on something that's little more than a powerpoint deck at this stage is nothing more than degenerate gambling by the ultra rich?

Re: Ilya Sutskever's SSI Inc raises $1B

#100

Safe superintelligence is a misnomer. If it’s intelligent, it knows what must be done. If it can’t, it’s not super or intelligent.

There's no reason it's intelligence should care about your goals though. the worry is creating a sociopathic (or weirder/worse) intelligence. Morality isn't derivable from first principles, it's a consequence of values.
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