Hi Steve, As for taking >$10M in venture money, yes you have to do the legal paperwork right and the $$ can come only from accredited investors, but there is no rule about billionaires being involved; the criteria for being a accredited investor are much weaker... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor#United_States
Also -- I do know a couple billionaires personally, as it happens (and a number of others close to that level); they are interested in AGI but evidently I haven't convinced them to fund OpenCog amply at this point.... One of the secrets of being friends with the wealthy is not constantly asking them for money. By the same token, I also have some friends who are immensely less financially well-off than me and I am happy that they do not constantly ask me for funds, only would do so in an emergency situation ;/ .... Human life has its complexities... The key issue is that, even if someone has massive wealth and believes AGI is feasible and important, they still don't necessarily have a way to know WHICH of the many approaches to AGI is really likely to succeed. They are not experts. And if they choose to donate/invest in AGI they will tend to ask the profs at the nearest big-name university what to donate/invest in; and these profs tend to be fairly conservative minded.... The easiest way to break through this -- if one wants to secure substantial, stable funding for AGI rather than for development and marketing of associated commercial products -- will be to make a cool enough demonstrated achievement with one's in-progress AGI system, that folks with spare wealth are willing to bet on your system as "the one" (or at least a one) that will get there first. But of course this is difficult because AGI is a hard problem and specifically because of the reasons I outlined in http://multiverseaccordingtoben.blogspot.kr/2011/06/why-is-evaluating-partial-progress.html some time ago... My current 3 year plan for OpenCog is aimed at overcoming these issues and finally making enough practical progress to make a working demo system that shows enough early-stage AGI to overcome the doubts of possible donors/investors who are psyched about AGI in principle.... This should be easier now than 2-3 years ago due to the increased popularity of AI overall, and the embrace of AGI as a concept by Google Deep Mind and others with big names... and also because we have already made loads of progress within OpenCog, even if not yet shinily demonstrable. I think we can cobble together the resources to get the 3 year plan done, but we'll see... ask me in 9 months if we're on the right track or not ... or it may be obvious ;) ... -- Ben On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 1:13 AM, Steve Richfield <[email protected]> wrote: > Ben, > > On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Ben Goertzel <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >>> >>> >>>> >>>>> which is TOO BIG to fund without an established cash flow, unless you >>>>> can demonstrate magic like Facebook has done. Anything over $10M MUST be >>>>> done as a public offering that requires SEC scrutiny that is there to >>>>> BLOCK >>>>> companies with big dreams but nothing to show. >>>>> >>>> >>>> That's untrue, actually... >>>> >>> >>> I'll watch. >>> >> >> >> Silicon Valley companies routinely raise more than $10M in private >> venture funding (e.g. Vicarious Systems' last round, to name an AI >> example), so I'm not sure what you're talking about... >> > > Yes - there is a narrow exception to this rule, derived from the 1st > Amendment (where money is a form of "speech") and enshrined in SEC > regulations covering "sophisticated investors" as defined as those who have > "won and lost money" in the type of business raising the money. You are > only allowed to approach 20 such investors. To cover their butts, Vicarious > Systems actually lists their investors in their Wikipedia article. I once > went through this same process with my own startup Remote Time-Sharing > Corp. To make this work, a company MUST have someone on board whose friends > collectively have >$1B. In my own case, I had two key board members - one > of whom owned a local chain of banks, and both of whom were partners in a > local stock brokerage firm that had a seat on the NYSE. > > This further makes my point that you can NOT raise such money from > crowdfunding (to NON-sophisticated investors by SEC definition) or though > any sort of public publication (that might be seen by non-sophisticated > investors). Instead, if you want to raise >$10M without going through a > public offering (that the SEC would probably block where it involved AGI > R&D), you MUST do it by *approaching* <20 very rich people. To avoid > exhausting your 20 on non-investors, "initial" discussions are usually > "hypothetical". Note that for Vicarious Systems, several of those people > own/control major corporations, but that those corporations were NOT > investors - as this would have violated SEC rules because the investors in > THOSE corporations were NOT "sophisticated". > > My statement was slightly over-broad, but my point is unchanged. If you > are expecting to cross the $10M threshold, you had better have a REALLY > GOOD plan. If you knew people who have billions of dollars, I presume this > field would now be MUCH better funded. I suggest expanding your circle of > friends. > > Steve > ================================ > > >> >> >> >>> But Linux has prevailed without selling out to big companies (and >>>> without Torvalds getting insanely rich, for that matter). And so may an >>>> OSS AGI initiative, if things go well... >>>> >>> >>> Linux is <<<1% of AGI and so makes a horrible model. There was nothing >>> to do in Linux but code, because there was UNIX to copy, and UNIX is SO >>> much simpler than YOU are. >>> >> >> >> An OS is very different than an AGI, but still the Linux development >> model has things to teach us. >> >> The research aspect of AGI is different, but to help grapple with that we >> can reach out to academics who can help with an OSS project consistent with >> their university jobs, but couldn't join a commercial endeavor more than >> very-part-time without quitting... >> >> >> >>> >>> I suggest writing a business plan and putting it out there for people to >>> pick at, and then including an addendum addressing people objections that >>> you don't directly address in the plan. >>> >>> >> >> Well, we have put together a 3 year development plan for OpenCog (not as >> a business, as an OSS AGI project) and will be doing a corresponding >> fundraising push probably in Q2 next year, after we get our demos, >> documentation and tutorials cleaned up also..... But putting it out there >> for people to pick at doesn't seem productive at this stage.... It has >> already been critiqued by a number of experienced people, and tweaked a bit >> as a result... >> >> > Until then, it is all smoke and mirrors. >> >> If you wish to perceive it as smoke and mirrors, that's just fine with >> me, my friend ;) ... >> >> -- Ben >> >> >> *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> >> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/10443978-6f4c28ac> | >> Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription >> <http://www.listbox.com> >> > > > > -- > Full employment can be had with the stoke of a pen. Simply institute a six > hour workday. That will easily create enough new jobs to bring back full > employment. > > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/212726-deec6279> | Modify > <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> > Your Subscription <http://www.listbox.com> > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD http://goertzel.org "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
