Jed McCaleb, the founder of Ripple and Stellar (XLM), has announced plans to convert as much as $1 billion of his XRP fortune into a new investment outside the cryptocurrency space. The crypto founder and Silicon Valley billionaire is now turning his attention Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)with the aim of building an AI system based on the human brain.
Ripple founder to invest $1 billion in AI research
In an interview with Forbes, McCaleb revealed plans to allocate approximately $1 billion of its estimated $3.9 billion in XRP holdings to fund efforts targeting AGI. The move comes after he previously Dropped $1 billion to build a private space station by 2025.
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The new investment is expected to come through the Astera Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in California that McCaleb founded. Recently, the institute has increased its focus on neuroscience-inspired approaches to AI development. As a result, in addition to allocating $1 billion for AGI’s core project, McCaleb stated that he will commit another $600 million specifically for neuroscience research.
Ripple’s founder shared his ambitious goal to study the human brain as a model for building more capable and potentially safer brains artificial intelligence systems. He noted that researchers at the Astera Institute plan to use brain-computer interfaces to record neural activity patterns in mice as they perform everyday tasks such as navigating mazes. They would then capture and use this biological data and insights to design completely new AI systems that go beyond today’s popular transformer models.
In the interview, McCaleb expressed his skepticism about current mainstream AI methods. He pointed out that while transformers, a type of AI model, are good at making predictions, they have difficulty with long-term planning, decision-making and self-driven goals. He believes that using a brain-inspired framework could create an AI system that is easier for humans to understand and control.
Interestingly enough, McCaleb described his time in cryptocurrency as “a big detour” from his deeper interest in AI. He explained that he had always wanted to work in artificial intelligence, but only got the opportunity after retiring from the cryptocurrency industry. He expressed a strong belief in his ambitions, stating that “AI will be the most transformative thing humans have ever created.” Although still a key figure in Ripple’s history, McCaleb left the company sold all his XRP by 2022.
A quick dive into McCaleb’s role in Ripple and XRP
McCaleb initially entered the crypto industry as a programmer with previous experience running it now defunct Mt. Goxone of the first major Bitcoin exchanges. In 2011, he started developing the Ripple protocol and later recruited key figures such as former Ripple CTO David Schwartz.
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In 2022, McCaleb co-founded OpenCoin, which later became Ripple Labs, now Ripple. He co-founded the company Chris Larsen and served as CTO while contributing to the development of the XRP ledger (XRPL). After launching XRPL, McCaleb and other early co-founders each received a personal stake worth approximately 9 billion XRP, approximately 9% of the total supply. This assignment has contributed significantly to his personal wealth today.
Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com