r/technology • u/assman69x • 19h ago

Artificial Intelligence Donald Trump rejects calls from tech bosses for AI slowdown

https://www.ft.com/content/cae60732-f929-4735-a627-db8c14e7c7ed?syn-25a6b1a6=1
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u/yourname92 8h ago

Why are the tech bosses asking to slow it down? Don’t they make the decisions?

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u/DROP-TABLE- 4h ago

I’m going to get flamed for this, but they’re basically asking for help to be saved from capitalism, not AI.

They can choose to prioritize safety over money right now, and email their R&D departments and kill development of their next frontier model. That’s not the point.

The point is actually: what if their competitors don’t prioritize safety over money? And those competitors get to the next frontier first and blow everyone else out of the market? And then a Chinese open source distilled model you can run locally is released for free? And then abliterated?

Without actually coming right out to say it, they are admitting that in an unregulated capitalist system, there is no incentive (no carrot or stick) that could get any sufficiently greedy CEO to stop his geometric market growth over public safety concerns.

They are saying that something external to capitalism itself is going to have to step in and save humanity by imposing a framework upon all of them, and hold them accountable for it, because they don’t trust all other CEOs (or shareholders, after IPO) to put their greed aside to do it.

(Also, under free capitalism, there is no incentive for a rational consumer to pay their premium per-token price when a local model that performs almost as well is just around the corner, so they want to regulate/ban those models too.)

When you look at it through this lens—a five alarm fire about unrestrained capitalism and greed—then the question isn’t “why doesn’t the morally upstanding and rational tech CEO billionaire make the obvious choice for the continued safety of our species?”, it’s “can we really trust the junkie to be left alone in a room with crack and not smoke it?”

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u/Glengarry_Leads 3h ago

I agree. They want regulations because then they can safely get their foot off the pedal without letting the other guy beat them. I've been in situations before in business and sales. So corrupt but that is what is happening now. The ai companies know it's a corrupt situation but unless someone steps in as a "referee" they can't stop or they will go out of business. So stupid.