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

edit

Start-ups and cryptocurrency

edit

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

edit

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

edit
  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.