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Draft:Liron Shapira

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Liron Shapira is an American tech investor and writer known for his criticism of cryptocurrency and his views on the existential risk from artificial general intelligence.[1][2]

Career

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Start-ups and cryptocurrency

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Shapira co-founded Quixey, a search engine for mobile applications, in 2009.[3]

In 2012, Shapira invested $10,000 in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and later sold his stake in 2021 for $6 million.[1] He has since become a critic of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, arguing that it's "essentially worthless". Of Web3, Shapira has said that the movement has "no logically coherent vision for a desirable end state", and believes its proponents such as Marc Andreessen haven't shown any transformative use cases for the technology.[4][5]

In 2016, Shapira launched Relationship Hero, an online coaching service that gives users dating advice.[6]

Existential risk from artificial general intelligence

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Shapira has spoken about the existential risk from artificial intelligence and believes frontier AI development should be paused, similar to the proposal of Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter. He claims to not be anti-technology, but thinks that "it's too soon for us to handle super human intelligence because we need more research into how to make it safe."[7]

In 2024, Shapira protested outside OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco with PauseAI, a nonprofit advocating for a pause on the development of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. He argued that the AI control problem is still without a solution, and that there's "no turning back" once AI exceeds the intelligence of humanity. He hoped that politicians attending the upcoming Seoul AI Summit would address the risks.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b Chittum, Morgan. "This angel investor made a $6 million profit after investing $10,000 in Coinbase. Here's why he sold his stake and now thinks all of crypto is 'essentially worthless.'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  2. ^ "Liron Shapira on Superintelligence Goals". Future of Life Institute. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  3. ^ Savitz, Eric. "Quixey Raises $3.8M Round; Searching The Functional Web". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  4. ^ Warzel, Charlie (2022-06-28). "The Petty Pleasures of Watching Crypto Profiteers Flounder". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  5. ^ "Crypto skeptics have been debating online for years. Now they're organizing". NBC News. 2022-08-15. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  6. ^ Bastone, Nick. "A guy who tried online dating and had 'nothing to say' launched a startup for 'relationship coaches' that just scored $2 million in funding". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  7. ^ "OpenAI launches new AI model GPT-4o, a conversational digital personal assistant". ABC7 San Francisco. 2024-05-14. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  8. ^ Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (2024-05-13). "As OpenAI Unveils Big Update, Protesters Call for Pause in Risky 'Frontier' Tech | KQED". www.kqed.org. Retrieved 2024-07-28.