- AE Studio uses large language models to analyze 80 million pages of Spanish colonial bureaucracy, ship manifests, and insurance records to locate undiscovered shipwrecks and lost cargo.
- The model generates coordinates for potential wreck sites, but human divers are needed to physically recover the cargo.
- Applicants must have extensive nautical experience, including open-ocean diving, salvage certifications, and comfort with remote expeditions and bureaucratic challenges.
- Compensation includes founder-level equity, a salary of $50,000–$500,000, and a profit share on recovered cargo, with legal costs covered.
- The project draws a parallel between historical distortion of reality under incentive pressure and modern AI alignment failures, both governed by holonomy on incentive-deformed representations.
- First targets are expected within the year, with initial sites likely empty but hit rates improving over time.
- Sample coordinates from the model are provided for four wrecks dating from 1622 to 1798, with details on cargo discrepancies and historical records.