On the 250th anniversary of American independence
I am publishing this essay on July 4, 2026 — two hundred and fifty years since the Declaration of Independence. That milestone matters to me personally, not as a claim that any nation has finished its work, but as a reminder of what ordered liberty has made possible.
The freedoms we celebrate on this day — to speak, to associate, to build, to worship, to pursue a life of one's own choosing within the rule of law — have shaped how I think about responsibility and possibility. The U.S. Constitution and the legal framework that grew from it have been a steady influence in my life: a foundation for entrepreneurship, innovation, and the belief that clear rules and fair process matter as much as ambition.
That framework is built on a paradox Americans know well: we are independent yet interdependent. Individual citizens and organizations chart their own course — and states, communities, and the federal government must still work together on problems none can solve alone. That is not weakness; it is how a large, diverse republic functions. SustainAI Global reflects that same spirit: one focused nonprofit among many, doing our part without pretending to be the whole story.
Above all, I was raised to believe in hard work — that dignity comes from effort, learning, and showing up for others. This essay is an attempt to be honest about what we are building, what we are not promising, and why disciplined work in a free society still matters as AI reshapes the world.
What inspired this work
I came to these views after a decade of working in machine learning and AI, organizing tech community meetups, and watching this field up close.
I have seen the incredible positive changes technology can bring: people learning faster, building things they could not build before, connecting across distances, and solving problems that once seemed out of reach. Community meetups showed me how shared curiosity and hard work compound — how ordinary people, through open source and with tools and room to collaborate, can move industries forward.
I have also seen reasons for concern: a culture that can be too lax about how we build and deploy AI, too quick to treat capability as sufficient, and too slow to ask where the trajectory is heading. The upside is real. So are the risks of a careless path — for workers, for trust, for the environment, and for the kind of society we are steering toward.
SustainAI Global is my attempt to respond to both truths with discipline: celebrate what AI makes possible, but work deliberately on jobs, green energy, and ethical frameworks so we are not simply drifting wherever market pressure and hype take us.
Why we call it viatopia-like
William MacAskill offers a useful term for the distinction in "Viatopia" (Forethought Research, January 7, 2026):
Viatopia: an intermediate state of society that is on track for a near-best future, whatever that might look like.
Etymologically, viatopia means "by way of this place" — a waystation, not a final destination.
We say viatopia-like, not "viatopia," because SustainAI Global is one focused contribution among many. We do not claim to have mapped the only path, the final destination, or a flawless society. That humility is intentional — and it is part of why we reject the label utopian.
Some people hear our goals and call them utopian. We understand why. When an organization talks about creating more jobs than AI displaces, accelerating green energy for compute, and building ethical AI tools, it can sound like we're promising a perfect future.
We're not.
We are a focused nonprofit with three core pillars. We believe these three areas — Jobs, Energy, and Ethics — are where we can make a meaningful difference if we stay disciplined. That discipline means being very clear about what we are trying to do and what we are deliberately not trying to do.
What We Are Trying to Do
We want to help humans, organizations, and AI work together to create more jobs than are displaced. Not eliminate unemployment. Not guarantee everyone a perfect role. But tilt the balance toward net job creation through real upskilling, new role development, and human-AI collaboration.
We want to help organizations and the AI ecosystem move toward greater use of green energy. We will fund and facilitate research, build partnerships, and push for 100% renewable compute where we have influence. This is a serious goal for us — not a promise we can force on the entire world. We know the transition will take time, and fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for years to come.
We are building ethical AI tools — starting with our work on the Ethos model — that prioritize human dignity, safety, and purpose. We are not trying to create the one true ethical AI system. We expect many approaches to exist. Ours is one contribution among many.
We have high aspirations because the stakes are high. If you aim low, you rarely achieve anything meaningful. But high aspirations are not the same as utopian guarantees.
What We Are Not Trying to Do
- We are not going to end unemployment.
- We are not going to eliminate fossil fuel usage overnight or even in the next decade.
- We are not going to end poverty.
- We are not going to solve the mental health crisis.
- We are not going to end war.
- We are not a religious organization, though we draw wisdom from religious traditions on virtues, principles, and human dignity. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples already exist for that work.
- We will not solve global education or achieve universal literacy.
- We will not upskill every person who needs it.
- We will not fix every economic problem.
There are many important challenges we are choosing not to take on directly. This is not because we don't care. It's because we believe focus matters. We would rather do three things well than spread ourselves across dozens of problems and do none of them effectively.
Our Actual Stance
We are not AI doomers. Nor are we blind optimists who think everything will magically work out if we just wait.
Advanced AI carries non-zero risk — not because catastrophe is inevitable, but because the probability of severe harm is not zero. AI experts and developers increasingly warn that the technology could do real damage if we treat capability as sufficient and trajectory as someone else's problem. The exact probability is debated; the magnitude of potential consequences is not — including autonomous system failures, biosecurity threats, and economic disruption — consequences serious enough to matter for global policy, corporate governance, and everyday institutions.
That is why we need deliberate action, coordination, and a real plan to mitigate risk — not panic, and not passivity. We believe those risks can be reduced through focused work: clear principles, practical capability in jobs, energy, and ethics, and honest collaboration across companies, researchers, governments, and communities.
We are one nonprofit among many. We are willing to work with anyone — companies, researchers, governments, other nonprofits, or individuals — who wants to help tackle these specific challenges with honesty and focus. We are not waiting on the sidelines for someone else to solve this. We also know we will fail at times. When we do, we will learn, adjust, and keep going.
This is not a utopian project. It is a pragmatic one. We have more intelligence, tools, and resources available to humanity right now than at any point in history. Wasting that moment by either panicking or doing nothing would be a mistake.
We are trying to be one of many catalysts that help steer things in a better direction — not by promising perfection, but by building real capability in jobs, sustainable energy, and ethical frameworks while staying clear-eyed about our limits.
If that approach resonates with you, we'd welcome your help — get in touch.
References & citations
- MacAskill, William. "Viatopia." Forethought Research, January 7, 2026. https://www.forethought.org/research/viatopia
When citing this article: Camier, Jacques. "Viatopia-like: We're Not Building Utopia. Here's What SustainAI Global Actually Stands For." SustainAI Global, July 4, 2026, https://sustainai.global/articles/posts/viatopia-like/.