Universal intelligence sets up humanity’s next era with promising foundations in innovative AI-driven public and private data infrastructure and operations, creating symbiotic opportunities for the individual and their role in society at large.
The Universal
Through principles in data sovereignty, digital integrity, and ethical and responsible technology development, Universal Intelligence can play the ultimate role in collective human flourishing.
Universal intelligence seeks to address the critical challenges of our time by placing data at the heart of a transformative paradigm shift. It is designed to catalyze the creation of a unified digital ecosystem that reimagines the relationship between individuals and their data, unlocking economic prosperity while fostering harmony in society. By pioneering new models of data ownership, control, and economic incentives, universal intelligence disrupts the exploitative practices that currently dominate the digital landscape, leading to a more equitable, transparent, and empowering digital future.
Data Extraction
At present, the global digital economy is heavily skewed towards centralized control by big tech corporations, where value is extracted from individuals through opaque data collection practices. This model exacerbates numerous societal issues, including mental health crises, social polarization, and the manipulation of media for divisive purposes. The current data extraction model combined with the attention economy centralizes value within big tech corporations, exacerbating issues like mental health deterioration, societal polarization, and the weaponization of media.
This model is primarily driven by third-party online advertising, commoditizing personal data without compensating the individuals from whom it is collected. This has led to the accumulation of vast wealth by big tech companies, while users see little to no economic benefit from their data other than being pushed into deeper consumption and future purchases. The lack of a market mechanism that allows individuals to own, control, and monetize their data creates economic barriers to a more equitable distribution of wealth generated in the digital economy.
Moreover, the reliance on data extraction as a business model stifles innovation, as companies are incentivized to prioritize profit over the development of technologies that could improve data privacy and user empowerment. A study by the World Economic Forum estimates that the global data economy was valued at over $3 trillion in 2020, with the vast majority of this wealth concentrated within a few large tech corporations, raising concerns about economic inequality.
With the explosion of generative AI causing massive ripple effects across industries, alarm bells are ringing around building systems responsibly for humans to flourish in this new age. Challenges in AI safety and alignment are important derivatives of problems deeply rooted in how the web, media, and data ecosystems are built.
