Contact page lists a single gmail addr?

Model runs take millions. Was really expecting this to have a credible major sponsor or alternatively propose a new distributed torrent-y training model to sidestep the massive pile of money issue

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mountainriver 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

This is just focused on crowdfunding the money rather than a fully distributed training system which is less efficient. Although we may look into using the Prime Intellect work down the road.

It's not that challenging to spin up a crowdfunding platform, the laws and registrations are simple. It's capped at $5m per project, but if you go further into Reg A or Co-op models you can extend that much further. You can still train amazing models with $5m.

The whole point is I'm not a big company, I just worked on a startup doing heavy ML training and was often dismayed by the state of the OSS ecosystem. Whole cottage industries can form around open sourced models, and I want to help power that.

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Havoc 3 days ago | parent [-]

Thanks for the sincere response to my comment that likely came across quite direct.

I do think for critical mass this will need a 3rd party custodian or platform of sorts though. DIY crowdfunding may not be hard to set up legally, but it's still facing the same rug pull risks as other crowdfundings.

To be clear my concern here is structural - not challenging your personal integrity. I'm sure your heart is in the right place

>I want to help power that.

Same - I love the direction. Especially given risk of the big players running away with this and OSS gang being left with no competitive models. Think it would need a bit more guardrails before I drop in cash though

	▲	mountainriver 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Sorry too! Rereading my comment it sounds a bit snarky. I agree that a backer would definitely help here, one of the reasons for posting this is to see if we can drum up more interest there. I agree in the guardrails as well, we are thinking checkpoints with clear deliverables to unlock more cash could help. It’s really interesting that the existing crowdfunding platforms don’t enforce a whole lot of this and still work. It seems off to me but I can’t argue much with the outcome, it could be that the smarter crowd that engages here would care more though.

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brendanfinan 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Gotta start somewhere

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Havoc 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

For startups in general yes, for aggregating millions of user funds you need a better plan straight off the bat

	▲	mountainriver 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		This is crowdfunding, it’s not that crazy at all. It’s early stages

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muragekibicho 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Exactly! The most important thing is to start.