Steve, > 1. Can you roll your ideas into a patent and make some new IP that might > form the nucleus for a fundable entity?
Software patents aren't usually defensible these days, unless you're a big company with big bucks to defend them... And AI is extra tough to patent defensibly, since there are always multiple ways to do any particular thing I do think that getting patents can be valuable as part of an overall strategy for getting VC $$, though; since many VCs are still foolish enough to be psyched about software patents ;p Indeed, it would be straightforward to identify dozens of patentable technologies within the OpenCog design. But most of these have been published online for a few years, hence are probably not patentable anymore... > 2. What is the simplest valuable application of your technology that > could be sold, e.g. semi-intelligent avatars? Self-adapting street lights? > Etc? If you could produce a patent aimed at such an application, you might > be able to turn that into R&D money to create a better product, and use that > income to fund greater developments. I'm already trying this sort of thing. Actually I've been spending the bulk of my time for the last year, working on a Hong Kong based financial prediction application of various AI technologies (including some OpenCog components, plus other proprietary stuff my colleagues &I invented). If this works well, then within a number of years I will have enough personal $$ to fund OpenCog AGI myself. This financial prediction enterprise is angel investor funded, and I'm one among several founding equity holders. This has been a rather fun project. (Also note, this is an area where one doesn't patent one's proprietary stuff; one just retains it as trade secrets...) I am quite hopeful for its success, but of course every business has its own uncertainties... The downside of this approach, from an AGI perspective, is: Due to spending so much time in the last year on financial prediction, I haven't been able to guide the OpenCog work nearly as closely as I would like. So the OpenCog HK team has gone more slowly than would have been the case, if I'd been able to devote more of my time to OpenCog in the last year... > 3. OpenCog, etc., might be a valuable foil around which you could form a > think tank to at least identify the bounds around the "secret sauce", > identify alternative approaches, identify approaches to make the structure > more or less impervious to new developmen,ts, etc. With this, you might be > able to get the DoD, etc., to chip in some money. That's an interesting idea, but given my response to point 2 above, I don't have time for it... > 4. IMHO you can't possibly succeed alone. What you are doing is WAY too > big for one person to do, just like Babbage couldn't build his machine. You > need to accumulate some human resources, e.g. a cooperative patent attorney, > a PR guy, a CEO type, an angel investor to pay for patent applications, > etc., who are willing to work for a piece of the action. This also means > that YOU need to give away some of the future action. You might be surprised > how cooperative some of the naysayers become when they realize that if they > turn their negativity into positive help, that they might actually get a > percent of the result. As noted, I'm not alone in OpenCog by any means. But I agree, OpenCog could badly use something more than "a fraction of Ben" on the business / publicity side... I have a phone call tomorrow with someone who wants to volunteer to help with PR and fundraising for OpenCog. So I am exploring options in these regards, with what little time I can allocate to such exploration... In short, your advice makes sense, but -- with the exception of the patent approach -- it's stuff I'm already exploring..... But as options for accelerating the work are explored, time passes, and meanwhile skeptics complain that progress is sooooo slow ;p ;) .. -- Ben G ------------------------------------------- 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
