Can you clarify what you mean by edge: edge servers, or the end-user device? I ask about running the model locally because of the privacy implications.

Can you clarify your financial structure? Is this a charity or public benefit corporation? Or a startup which intends to pursue venture funding as well?

Do you think it will be possible to run this tool locally?

such as Patreon, Manifund, Google Worksheets, and/or an instance of Forum Magnum

None of them seem like they are capable of doing what you are describing. Can you elaborate on how any of them would be good for this use case?

Looks interesting, I have a few questions though:

• Is this intended to be profitable (since you are raising from VCs)? Where will revenue come from? By taking a cut from the marketplace and loans?

• What is the reason for focusing on AI? It seems like it may be the primary infra cost (and may not be accurate due to lack of relevant training data). If this intended to attract VC funding?

• Who are the loan providers - is this via p2p lending?

• Can you describe these markets in more detail? I can imagine two different approaches, one where multiple farmers combine their products into a single futures contract, and another which is just the listing of products organized using search and mapping features.

• It seems to me that this might be better as two separate apps, one informational (education + AI assistance), and another financial (loans and market). What is the benefit to tying them together? It seems like the failure of any component could result in reputational damage which could affect the others.

• It seems like scaling will be a challenge (especially for the financial portions) due to changes in local conditions, such as relevant laws in different countries, or even what kind of market is optimal based on population density. How do you intend to initially launch?

Is there market demand for organic produce in Kenya? Presumably it's more expensive?

lgtm

@Elabi So let's say I buy your argument that the resource curse and short-term policies are the problem and that EA will promote long-term and cooperative ideas. However, it seems to me that fixing this requires being in a position of influence, and it seems to me that something like EA is outside of the traditional avenues of power in Nigeria. For example, potentially you could position yourself as a liberal-aligned movement and responsible recipient and distributor of external funding (although there's the SBF reputational damage), but that may be regarded as a usurpation by those who currently have that position so may not be tenable. So do you mean to say that you will focus on promoting EA ideas to those who are in power or in a position to inherit power?

Note that I don't know the local context so could be totally wrong.

What is your method for managing potential corruption both internally and for the charities donated to, given sensitivity constraints?

The per capita GDP of the Philippines is approximately 3500$, compared to the OECD average of $40,000. Is it not more cost-effective from a utilitarian perspective focus on local development rather than altruism?

The per capita GDP of Nigeria is approximately 2000$, compared to the OECD average of $40,000. Is it not more cost-effective from a utilitarian perspective focus on local development rather than altruism?

It seems to me that more people want to work in high impact roles than such roles are available. In the same way that you wouldn't want to donate to a charity with more money than it knows what to do with, isn't the high impact job market also overfunded at the moment? If so, isn't this project subsidizing the production of a good which is already in too high supply?

If the problem with training is a lack of understanding of the local context, then is focusing on creating a scalable program from the outside the correct approach? It seems likely you will run into the same problems as others, especially since your team also seems to be based primarily in Turkey and the EU, and not necessarily the countries you are planning to target (or are you starting with Turkey)?

Why do you want to expand to other cities and countries? Shouldn't a forecasting meetup originating in DC take advantage of its proximity to power and focus on getting forecasting normalized in US government and politics, rather than diluting its unique advantage?

My understanding is that HE is extremely slow as a result highly constrained in the operations that are supported. What are the simple analyses which are allowed after the imaging data is encrypted? If they are not comprehensive, is it possible that if your project succeeds and the highest quality open data set is encrypted, that the default suite of analysis will be far more limited and we will potentially miss out on discoveries which could be uncovered by more sophisticated analytical techniques?