On November 16, Andrew Yang, the creator of the Forward Party and a past contender for the US presidency, appeared at the North American Blockchain Summit (NABS) in Fort Worth, Texas. Yang voiced worries on the US government’s regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) and the lack of adoption and public perception of blockchain technology.
As a self-described ‘enormous believer in smart money, smart currencies,’ Yang expressed disappointment about the current level of blockchain and Web3 technologies in the US. He thinks businesses may decide to relocate abroad as a result of this. Yang recommended that in order to prevent this, blockchain’s beneficial applications should be shown to be able to address issues that the American people face. He added that there is still more to learn about how blockchain technology might be used to fight poverty.
Yang also expressed reservations about the US government’s AI strategy, describing it as “fairly limited, maybe even incoherent,” in addition to blockchain. He signed an open letter with 2,600 other tech executives and researchers urging a stop to training AI systems more potent than GPT-4. Yang also emphasised how artificial intelligence may have an impact on politics by changing public life and campaigns. He attacked the “winner-take-all” economy, which he claimed could widen already-existing rifts in American politics, and the regulatory approach taken by the United States, which he compared to waiting for a catastrophe to strike before acting.
