If they have all the threory and coded it and whatnot, where is the cost coming from?
The theory for friendliness is completely separate from the theory of AI. So, assuming they complete one does not mean that they complete the other. Furthermore, for something as big as AI/FAI, the computing power required is likely to be huge, which makes it unlikely that a small company like SIAI will be able to create it.
Though, I suppose it might be possible if they were able to get large enough loans, I don't have the technical knowledge to say how much computing power is needed or how much that would cost.
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