Better Regulate Than Never
AI has the power to kill us all or to grant everlasting life, but for some reason, it can’t figure out how to regulate AI. That’s a bit strange, considering the debate over that topic started about five minutes after someone first mentioned the technology. From The Verge (Gift Article), here’s a brief history of AI executives calling for regulation. For we mere plebeians (here defined as anyone who doesn’t own at least $5 billion worth of shares in an AI company), it’s difficult to know exactly where to come down on the regulatory question, especially considering that the patricians push opinions that tend to change “with the political weather.” NYT (Gift Article): The Awesome and Alarming A.I. Visions of Anthropic’s CEO. In fairness, even with the assistance of Claude, Dario Amodei has a difficult challenge. “His collected essays are a chronicle of Silicon Valley’s constantly shifting methods of selling its own product to a public that is simultaneously enticed and horrified. It’s not an easy task, convincing the world that something is a slam-dunk even though it will make Silicon Valley richer and more powerful while possibly leaving ordinary folks unemployed or — who knows? — dead.” (OK, it’s not an easy task, but at least he’s the most well-compensated essayist in history.)
+ At its core, the regulation debate basically comes down to one big question: Should the government regulate AI or should AI companies self-regulate? But here’s the rub: Given the current administration (a cronyistic corporatocracy with a side order of kakistocratic kleptocrats), there’s no difference. In this scenario, the core question comes down to who was the last person on the phone with the president. Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Sam Altman … you didn’t elect any of them, but they’re constantly on the line and right in the middle of the government’s decision-making on this matter (and others). WSJ (Gift Article): Inside the White House Tussle to Sway Trump on AI. So we’ll either have an industry that runs itself, or one that runs itself through a mismanaged and self-interested administration. Who won’t have a say in this matter? You. (And I didn’t even need AI to answer that question.)
