The AI Ecosystem

In my most recent newsletter, I wrote about the AI ecosystem--its extreme power concentration and circular financing (link in comments).

Specifically, as we know, a handful of Big Tech players control the hardware, compute, data centers, foundation models, etc.

And they've also created a circular financing model in which the same small number of companies invest in each other, and then capital flows back to the original investor through cloud computing contracts and hardware purchases.

I am becoming increasingly concerned about this power concentration, and how (much more) dependent we will become on these companies in the future.

I often think about ways that we can counteract this.

Like building tools with open weight models to reduce our dependence on AI companies' APIs and being at the mercy of their pricing structures and company ethos.

I also consider the role of blockchain as a means of decentralization of power, realizing that this requires a collective approach to developing infrastructure with incredible cost and effort.

So, I'd love to learn from folks who know more about technology than I do.

What are some possible approaches to hedge against Big Tech's total control of our AI future?