Daily Digest: AI safety summit - Day 1

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November 02, 2023

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Daily Digest #276

Hello folks, here’s what we have today;

PICKS

  1. Day 1 of the UK’s AI safety summit was completed yesterday. The next summit will be hosted by South Korea 6 months from now and then by France 1 year from now. Here’s all that you need to know: 🍿Our no BS Summary (also below)

  2. Attenuating Innovation - Ben Thompson (Stratechery) discusses how big tech companies and AI researchers are lobbying the government to heavily regulate AI development, likely to lock in their market positions.🍿Our Summary (also below)

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QUICK BITES

Day 1 of the UK’s AI safety summit was completed yesterday. The next summit will be hosted by South Korea 6 months from now and then by France 1 year from now. Here’s all that you need to know:

Areas of Focus of different countries:

Highlights from the speaker’s remarks cutting aside the ”Oh! We should do something” fluff.

United States:

  • Get companies to make voluntary commitments and adhere to reporting requirements.

  • Launching an AI safety institute of its own under the Department of Commerce.

China:

  • Equal rights for every country to develop and use AI.

  • Global cooperation to share AI knowledge with the public on open-source terms.

EU:

  • Innovation - Opening up EU’s supercomputers to train models free of charge (for EU startups only I guess)

  • Guardrails - Finalization and agreement of the EU AI act by the end of the year. To release the chapter on generative AI by 6th December.

  • Governance - G7 voluntary code for AI regulations with new signatories to be announced.

India:

  • AI as an enabler of mass digital adoption.

  • We can’t afford regulation to fall behind innovation.

UAE:

  • Global first AI with multiple languages as the start.

  • Govern the use cases of AI, not the tech based on prior evidence.

Nigeria:

  • Socio-economic impact of AI is the biggest challenge to address.

  • Still looking at AI as a beneficial force in education and healthcare.

Korea:

  • Freedom, Fairness, Safety, Innovation and Solidarity are the 5 principles for aligned AI development.

  • Focus on protecting the privacy of citizens.

Catch our full summary for takeaways from the roundtable discussions.

QUICK BITES

Ben Thompson (Stratechery) discusses how big tech companies and AI researchers are lobbying the government to heavily regulate AI development, likely to lock in their market positions.

What is going on here?

Large tech companies and AI labs are urging the government to regulate AI development in the name of safety. However, their calls for regulation align closely with their business interests, indicating an ulterior motive of stifling competition.

What does this mean?

The big tech companies and AI researchers warning about AI risks tend to be the current leaders in the field. OpenAI and Anthropic, smaller labs with popular models, lead the charge. Google, Microsoft and DeepMind have also jumped on board. Meanwhile, Apple, Amazon and Meta have been quiet.

The prominent voices calling for AI regulation are the companies benefiting most from the current hype around models like ChatGPT. The laggards have fewer representatives lobbying for restrictions. This suggests regulations could lock in the position of today's winners over up-and-coming rivals.

Why should I care?

These dynamics highlight the need for skepticism around AI policy. While risks exist, progress requires striking a balance between safety and innovation. However, tech giants may suggest precautionary restrictions serving their own interests, not the public's. Their warnings evoke past episodes where leaders proclaimed risks to justify limiting competition.

We should be wary of incumbents writing rules benefiting themselves as incumbents. Regulation could easily shift from protecting consumers to protecting concentrated market power. Before restricting new advances, policymakers should honestly discern between real dangers versus threats to current leaders. Prioritizing safety is crucial but must be balanced with enabling better futures through ongoing AI progress.

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