An Anthropic employee publicly resigning over fears that AI is spiraling out of control has turbocharged the discussion around regulation. Virtually every politician who matters rushed out a statement, and so did Chris Murphy. Our nation has been plunged into a high-stakes conversation about technology, which seems like a tall order for a country currently stumped by the question of whether Lucia from Grand Theft Auto VI has an ass that’s egregiously Latina, insufficiently Latina, or possibly Latina-but-in-a-settler-colonialist sort of way.
Few people understand AI; it’s not even clear that the people building AI have their heads around it, which is the problem. We’re all forming opinions based on claims made by folks who maybe sorta understand some of what they’re saying, but also maybe not. Whom should you trust? None of the main players inspire confidence.
In a sane world, the president would lead this conversation. But in our world, the president says little, and everyone accepts that because we know that the president has the mind of a child who shoved Pop-Its up his nose until one exploded. Trump is obsessed with his arch, ballroom, and The Case Of The Reflecting Pool Who-Done-It, and that’s for the best — those distractions are the equivalent of giving a toddler Play-Doh so that he shuts the fuck up while the grown-ups talk. The one person capable of spearheading an international effort to develop guidelines is instead hatching a Krusty the Clown-style plan to bribe voters with big cash prizes, which is probably still better than having him attempt Art Of The Deal magic that would surely have us toiling in robot aluminum mines by the end of the week.
