The promoters of the TruthGPT Coin and Elon Musk AI Token have been served with a cease and desist order by the Texas State Securities Board.
The order comes as an attempt to stop what they allege is an illegal securities scam designed to profit from the rising interest in artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the Emergency Cease and Desist Order, Horatiu Charlie Caragaceanu and related companies, including Hedge4.ai and The Shark of Wall Street, have misled investors with their TruthGPT Coin and Elon Musk AI Token promotions.
The promoters achieved this by using animated avatars and photos of Musk in their promotional materials to fake his support of the venture. They also depicted the supposed participation of other well-known individuals, like Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of Ethereum, and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO and founder of Binance.
In their promotions, they also mentioned that the AI algorithm could assess various digital assets, predict future bitcoin prices, and differentiate between profitable and dubious investments.
The parties involved have also been promoting TruthGPT Coin as a very lucrative business opportunity, even claiming its value might soar by an astounding 10,000 times.
Investors are warned to remain vigilant
Following the recent events, Travis Iles, the Texas Securities Commissioner, warned that bad actors would likely keep trying to take advantage of the public interest.
He added that these bad actors are coming up with scams that give the impression that they have created robust artificial intelligence systems, but all too often, the products they give are nothing more than scams.
Joe Rotunda, director of enforcement for the Texas State Securities Board, urged investors to exercise caution, put passion aside, and objectively assess every offer, mainly when made by an unidentified person over the Internet.
AI talent wars in India
Meanwhile, in India, there has been increased demand among companies for professionals well-versed in AI, machine learning, and data science.
This is evident in one case whereby recruiters have been full-on scrambling to acquire the skills of Aditya Chopra, who works in artificial intelligence.
According to a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc, the surge in talent search is expected to only worsen in the upcoming years. This is due to a shortage of AI talent in the country despite hosting the second-largest pool of skilled AI talent globally.
