Marius Myburg's Weblog

I recently contacted that SIAI (http://singinst.org/) to ask them for some advice on how I should proceed with my AI system, Farve. I have done all this work, I have an artificial intelligence system that, quite frankly, is unmatched… so what now?  Where do I get money for research and development?  I asked the SIAI if I could perhaps give them a demonstration of Farve and let them decide if they want to help me with R&D.

Everything was going very nicely, I was planning a presentation for the SIAI, they wanted one of their AI researchers to contact me to chat about the more technical aspects of Farve… things were going well.

Then I remarked in an e-mail that, I will give them a presentation with some technical details, but in the presentation I will give them, I will not give away all of my ’secrets’ as it were.  I said that I would provide the SIAI with a technical explanation without divulging all of the details of more than 10 years of personal effort.

This is reasonable, right?  This is my work, my time, my effort, and my passion – I can not just give everything away to some organization on one sunny day.  But then one of the people at the SIAI I was corresponding with replied so (I quote):

Honestly, if you are trying to protect your idea what are you even talking to us for?

We’re here to make sure things develop safely, not for some pissing contest over credit.

One error here and you don’t get credit for the idea that ended life on earth, just dead like the people who didn’t have the idea.  If you are worried about trusting us with dangerous information that would be a different thing, but that didn’t sound like your concern, and in any event, in terms of responsible handling of dangerous information, if you aren’t going to trust us who ARE you going to trust?

Nice, isn’t it?  Can you believe the guys rudeness?  Moreover, can you believe that he expects me to give the SIAI my work, just like that?  And the guys choice of words clearly tells something about his personality too.

I think my response was justified:

Michael I see no reason for this rudeness. You misunderstood my e-mail, which is fine, but in my opinion you replied extremely rudely, which is not fine. This is not about a childish ‘pissing contest’, to use your words.  I have a technology that I believe is valuable, and that is why I approached the SIAI. Sorry if I wasted your time. I will look elsewhere for possible help, and in the meantime I will continue to develop my ideas on my own.

Unless I receive an apology, the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is getting nothing from me; not Farve, not a demonstration, nothing.  I choose to work with people with good manners. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone – I am simply working hard on one hell of an AI system, because that is what I love to do. It is not for recognition, it is not for money – it is simply a passion, I know AGI is inevitable, and I try to advance the field if I can.  To have help or funding for R&D would be brilliant, but it is less important than simple good manners.