Chris Dixon, founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency business, joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss his up-to-date book, “Read Yourself, Write Yourself: Building the Next Age of the Internet.” The cryptoevangelist explored some of the ideas in the book, including the role of blockchain technology in the future of the Internet and a possible path for artificial intelligence (AI) content regulation.
Blockchain technology is the future of the Internet
In interviewDixon reviewed some of the ideas proposed in his book. When asked about the usefulness of blockchain technology, the entrepreneur confirms that despite its importance, the financial aspect has been “overstated” in the general discussion. While payments, DeFi and Bitcoin are crucial applications, he says blockchain technology has much more to offer.
Blockchains as an broad technology. This is a up-to-date way of building web services. It could be gaming, it could be social networking, it could be financial services.
In terms of adoption, Dixon sees the recent approval of spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a positive sign for the cryptocurrency industry. He views any acceptance of cryptocurrencies by customary investors as a “good thing” after years of cryptocurrencies being viewed as “controversial.”
Following discussions on the approval of ETFs on the ground, he believes there will be an enhance in acceptance of ETFs and other financial instruments using digital assets because blockchain technology “is inevitable, it’s the future of the Internet.”
Should the government regulate artificial intelligence technology?
During the interview, Dixon emphasized his enthusiasm for AI technology: “I’m very excited about AI. Our company invests in a large amount of artificial intelligence. This is a very powerful new technology.” However, he recognized the need for clear regulations regarding the exploit of this technology, as it has raised many controversies in recent years.
Recently, concerns about the exploit of AI technology have increased after a wave of artificial intelligence-generated phony news flooded the Internet. This month, cryptocurrency users were alerted to AI-generated scam videos using the image of MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor to promote Bitcoin scams.
Saylor went to X to inform him that his team was removing 80 phony videos using his likeness every day. Similarly, the image and voice of Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko were used in phony videos offering a gift distribution via QR code to thank the community for the “historic day.”
Anatoly Yakovenko’s deepfake Ad promoting the phony giveaway on January 16, 2024. Source: Youtube.com
The entrepreneur sees phony AI-generated videos as an increasingly common problem that continues to affect the cryptocurrency community and society at immense due to the advanced technology behind it, as he explained:
You will also see very advanced phishing and very advanced phony people. On the Internet, it will be very hard to tell what is true and what is not.
It confirms that “blockchains are an important countermeasure” to the problem of AI-generated phony videos because blockchains create an “immutable audit trail” that can be used to determine the origin of content.
“You could have an immutable audit trail saying this video came from CNBC, it came from the New York Times,” Dixon explained.
Dixon believes this approach should be considered. However, he believes it would be hard to implement this solution “without some government action” and without “some enforcement measures to prevent fake videos from being displayed” on social networks.
Last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the U.S. Congress should take legislative action to address the problem of false AI-generated images after AI-generated sexual images of singer Taylor Swift began circulating on the Internet. the X platform (formerly known as Twitter). .
These images have garnered 45 million views on the platform and have been reported en masse by users. Team X removed the AI-generated content and restricted its search on the platform. Time will tell whether blockchain technology can be implemented to solve these problems.
Bitcoin is trading at $43,443.3 in the hourly chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
