FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is behind SELF?

The SELF team are a group of like-minded and supremely smart individuals from all over the world. SELF is the brainchild of Jonathan MacDonald, a British entrepreneur known for his work in the fields of innovation and strategy. Jonathan has a diverse background and has been involved in various successful business ventures. He is also recognised as a global thought leader and has shared his insights on the future of business, technology, and society. If you would like to learn more about Jonathan, you can visit his personal website at https://jonathanmacdonald.com.

What is the current status of the the project?

SELF is currently in a test phase, undergoing rigorous testing and refinement to ensure reliability, accuracy, and security. This means what you're testing is not the final version by any means. This is a trial of different features and not everything is being tested at once. Feedback from users is crucial in this phase and will help shape the future of SELF.

Is there a mobile app?

The mobile app for iOS and Android is currently in development. For now, please enjoy the web application, available on all devices, and follow our social channels (linked at the base of all pages) for updates.

What are the tailwinds that support this new venture? Why is there a market pull today that didn’t exist previously?

Anyone with even a passing interest in technology will know of the vast growth in AI platforms over the last year. The volume of capital involved is eye-watering. But in tandem, there’s a subtext which is getting louder by the week, and that is the topic of AI ethics. With Elon saying to Rogan and the British PM in the same week that ethics should be the priority, to regulators clamouring to get on top of the potential downsides of AI, SELF has positioned itself squarely on the right side of history.

It is our belief that the rest of the AI landscape, has not.

In addition to this room-sized elephant, the existing bias in platforms such as ChatGPT haven’t yet become a deterrent, but we wager these biases will eventually be seen as a dangerous form of censorship and information weaponisation.

These are not minor topics, nor are they concepts that will happen ‘in the future’. These are salient today, and again, is why SELF is positioned so strategically to be powered by the tailwinds that grow and swell around us all.

How does SELF learn and improve over time?

SELF’s learning process is ongoing. SELF uses feedback and interactions to refine its understanding and improve its responses. Developers also regularly update its capabilities to introduce new features and enhance performance.

What is the SELF token and when is the crypto launching?

The SELF cryptocurrency will launch at some point in the future that is yet to announced. SELF Rewards will be convertible into the crypto token, but the conversion rate will be decided and announced when the crypto is launched. All of this will be in the future tokenomics which will reside on this site. It is likely the SELF crypto will be related to the Minima protocol in some way, due to the fact that SELF uses Minima technologically.

Our ambition is for SELF to be as rewarding as possible for you. None of the SELF team will speculate on the potential price, the exchanges it will list on, the vesting periods, or anything else - but what we can promise is that the only way we want to do this is when everyone wins.

This project is literally decades in the making, and we would prefer to be slightly slower to market than rush something forward for a purely commercial gain (see the 6th commitment in our Manifesto).

Will the big players catch up with the trend toward Sovereign and Ethical AI?

Obviously it's impossible for us to predict. But, logically, it's all based on their business model. Current AI offerings build from what is technically possible, developed with a scientific focus rather than a human-first ethos. None seem to have considered the consequences of their actions. But they will eventually, and it'll be painful. The likelihood of ethical washing is pretty high, but the questions that determine whether something is ethical are not, are easy to conjure and impossible to lie about. For instance: where is my data stored? Who controls my information? Will you sell it to advertisers? Etc.

In contrast, SELF views each individual holistically by design, creating a significant competitive advantage that is not only difficult to replicate, but also unlikely others would want to even if they knew how.

Our key differentiators are:

1. How we view humanity - By incorporating real-life PA expertise & Guardrails

2. How we view sovereignty - Users own & control their own data on their own SELF servers

3. How we focus - Our entire offering is personally tailored to each user4. How we enable understanding - Of the nuances between preferences, intent and action

4. How we enable understanding - Of the nuances between preferences, intent and action

These drive all parts of the business model and are unique to SELF. The approach is immensely hard to replicate because other AI offerings are:

- Highly unlikely to incorporate real-life assistants due to perceived scaling issues.

- Starting to include ‘personalisation’ features to collect more data to tailor responses, however, not all data is information, not all information is intelligence, and it’s a far cry from hyper-personalisation.

- Focused on mass market saturation rather than individually tailored experiences.

- Eroding sovereignty by design, with no signs whatsoever of re-engineering their business models away from the standard approach of big tech.

Who are SELF’s biggest competitors?

SELF integrates all other AI platforms so that when users request assistance, SELF can audition answers from other platforms and then apply the user's personal preferences to the responses - thus tailoring the responses to each individual. Due to this, competition is actually a good thing and we don't see any offering as competitive, other than competitive against human rights.

When SELF searches the the chosen search engine, presumably it will be subject algorithms/ advertising?

No - SELF uses methods that escape advertising models that normal internet users experience.

What are the Ethical risks associated with SELF e.g capturing preferences, presumably regardless of whether these preferences/likes are beneficial for the user?

Firstly, it's down to the user to agree to what is collected, and users will be able to see what's been stored and amend/delete their information on the fly.
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Secondly, the only purpose of capturing preferences is to make the experience better for the user, rather than to do anything else with the preferences - so the model is geared towards what will help more, rather than what will be able to be sold more (which is literally the standard big tech model).

How do I provide feedback or report issues?

You can provide feedback or report issues through the dedicated #support channel in Discord. Your input is valuable in helping us improve SELF’s functionality and reliability.

Can I use emails and voice messages to communicate with SELF?

Currently it is not possible to use emails or voice messages to communicate with SELF. However, we are actively working on developing this feature, and it should be available in future versions.

Can I communicate with SELF via the telephone?

Currently it is not possible to have voice conversations with SELF. However, we are actively working on developing this feature, and it should be available in future versions.

Can SELF make purchases on behalf of its users?

Currently it is not possible for SELF to make purchases on your behalf. However, we are actively working on developing this feature, and it should be available in future versions.

Can SELF give financial or medical advice?

It is not ethical or responsible for SELF to provide financial or medical advice. Financial and medical advice should be sought from qualified and licensed professionals. SELF is an admin and lifestyle tool that is primarily designed to assist with plans, and purchases.

Is my data safe?

SELF is designed to respect and protect your privacy, and follow strict data protection guidelines. Our view is that your data should only be owned and controlled by you. You may let SELF work with your data, but only you set the conditions.

How does Adaptive AI work?

SELF uses a unique Personal Language Model that learns from you, your preferences, global information and filters that are applied to all content interaction, together with machine learning algorithms. SELF learns from your interactions to provide increasingly tailored responses over time.

How frequently will updates and improvements be made to SELF?

We plan to release regular updates and improvements based on evolving technology and user feedback. Your input will drive the evolution of SELF.

I'm concerned about the potential dangers of AI, how is SELF addressing the risks?

In our view, as the less moralistic players are already out of the gates, the first thing we need to do is to bring an alternative, highly moralistic version to market. One that works for the human not against. One that cares about you rather than sees you as a battery. The platforms today aren't created out of care, they're created out of scientific fascination and, we fear, without a great deal of consequence-based scenario planning. So, to put SELF in that mix? That's the least we can do.

Of course, since the dawn of innovation with fire on demand, we've found that there's initially chaos before balance is found in terms of utilising the innovation itself.
AI is unlikely to differ from this course...so what we're doing about it is to show the potential balance early on, in an attempt to lessen the chaotic impact and accelerate the realisation of how these tools can help rather than hinder.

Where can I get more information and updates about SELF?

You can stay updated on our progress by joining us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and Discord.

Frequently Asked Questions

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