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| Pix Credit here |
Yesterday the stranger said to me, “You may easily perceive, Captain Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been. I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you in case of failure. Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually deemed marvellous.(Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus (Project Gutenberg edition, October 31, 1993 [eBook #84](1818) Letter August 19th, 17--).
It turns out that Mary Shelly was an oracle. It was not just that the monster that the obsessive arrogance of one of her protagonists created, but that, unloved, it then dedicated itself to both preserving and destroying the lives of those around its creator. Brilliant. And now the plot of the mad collectives which, having dabbled in the creation of artificial consciousness have run to to the mommy-state for protection against both themselves and their own creature. But the creature is now stomping about. It is free--perhaps freer that its creators who remain locked up tight within the prisons of their own psycopathologies (richly rewarded materially to be sure).
In a story ripped from the opening of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, those who now stand in for the tragic Victor Frankenstein, rescued by the state, now standing in for Captain Robert Walton (who in his own way is as obsessed about a goal as Frankenstein is/was), seek to warn the poor Captain of the tragedy that lies at the end of a pathological obsession by recounting the story of his own arrogance, ignorance, obsession, and destruction. The story does not end well--once created the monster and its creator are eternally linked--in this life and the next. And while one might suppose that the lives of the incarnations of these forces may be extinguished , their life force cannot be extinguished. And so one begins again. And the first mistake--to recoil in horror from one's creation and then to abandon it, reviled and rejected as a daemon, a dangerous thing, a distorted and corrupted image of is creator. But rather than animate the creature through natural means, our new creature is animated through code and by law.
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| Pic Credit here |
Or perhaps what one is witnessing now is comedy and parody. Perhaps both (Young Frankenstein (1974)).
The CEOs of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic attended the two-hour meeting about the development and regulation of AI on Thursday at the invitation of US Vice President Kamala Harris. US President Joe Biden, who briefly attended the meeting, told the CEOs that the work they were carrying out had “enormous potential and enormous danger.” “I know you understand that,” Biden said, according to a video posted later by the White House. “And I hope you can educate us as to what you think is most needed to protect society as well as to the advancement.”(White House tells tech CEOs they have ‘moral duty’ on AI)
And the best they can offer--regimes of legal compliance. But it is legal compliance around a number of key normative fetishes which themselves are hotly contested in a society in which "bias" has become a dirty word and yet from which new and quite rigid biases (social justice, equality, autonomy, democracy, speech,etc.) will become the basis for an anti-bias bias. One used to call this the development and policing of socio-cultural taboo. One must now figure out what these mean, and then code them. But where the core normative taboos (biases) are themselves contested, the law of AI and algorithmic justice will continue to serve as an instrument of the cultural contestation of national "morality." In this sense the President is correct about moral duty. But where the trajectories of morality are deeply contested, then the possibility of a consensus about AI remains elusive and the temptation to instrumentalize AI and data governance in the service of normative objectives becomes irresistible. We may all be Dr. Frankenstein or Captain Walton
A very different approach is called for; but among the geriatrics who now seek to push AI back onto a Procrustean bed of 20th century sensibilities, that solution will never be found. The Readout of White House Meeting with CEOs on Advancing Responsible Artificial Intelligence Innovation (with inks), and Vice President Harris' remarks follow.
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| Pix Credit Here: The Song and Dance Routine Sequence from Scene Young Frankenstein (1974) |
Readout of White House Meeting with CEOs on Advancing Responsible Artificial Intelligence Innovation
4 May 2023
Today, Vice President Harris and senior Administration officials met
with CEOs of four American companies at the forefront of AI innovation
to share concerns about the risks associated with AI. President Biden
dropped by the meeting to underscore that companies have a fundamental
responsibility to make sure their products are safe and secure before
they are deployed or made public.
The President and Vice
President were clear that in order to realize the benefits that might
come from advances in AI, it is imperative to mitigate both the current
and potential risks AI poses to individuals, society, and national
security. These include risks to safety, security, human and civil
rights, privacy, jobs, and democratic values.
Given the role
these CEOs and their companies play in America’s AI innovation
ecosystem, Administration officials also emphasized the importance of
their leadership, called on them to model responsible behavior, and to
take action to ensure responsible innovation and appropriate safeguards,
and protect people’s rights and safety. This includes taking action
consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s Blueprint for an AI
Bill of Rights and the AI Risk Management Framework.
The meeting
also included frank and constructive discussion on three key areas: the
need for companies to be more transparent with policymakers, the
public, and others about their AI systems; the importance of being able
to evaluate, verify, and validate the safety, security, and efficacy of
AI systems; and the need to ensure AI systems are secure from malicious
actors and attacks.
Administration officials and CEOs agreed
that more work is needed to develop and ensure appropriate safeguards
and protections, and CEOs committed to continue engaging with the
Administration to ensure the American people are able to benefit from AI
innovation.
Today’s meeting was part of a broader, ongoing
effort to engage with advocates, companies, researchers, civil rights
organizations, not-for-profit organizations, communities, international
partners, and others on critical AI issues. This effort builds on the
considerable steps the Administration has taken to date to promote
responsible innovation and risk mitigation in AI. This includes additional actions announced this morning, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and related executive actions, the AI Risk Management Framework, and a roadmap for standing up a National AI Research Resource.
Participants
- Vice President Kamala Harris
- Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce
- Arati Prabhakar, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Jeff Zients, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
- Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff
- Mike Donilon, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
- Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Susan Rice, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
- Lael Brainard, Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council
- Stuart Delery, Assistant to the President and White House Counsel
- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
- Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic
- Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft
- Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet
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Statement from Vice President Harris After Meeting with CEOs on Advancing Responsible Artificial Intelligence Innovation
Advances in technology have always presented opportunities and risks,
and generative AI is no different. AI is one of today’s most powerful
technologies, with the potential to improve people’s lives and tackle
some of society’s biggest challenges. At the same time, AI has the
potential to dramatically increase threats to safety and security,
infringe civil rights and privacy, and erode public trust and faith in
democracy.
Throughout my career I have focused on protecting
consumers from the risks associated with technology. As Attorney General
for the State of California, I worked to protect seniors from online
scammers, women and girls from online harassment, and consumers from
privacy breaches, including by establishing a Privacy Enforcement and
Protection Unit within the California Department of Justice.
As a
United States Senator and member of the Intelligence and Judiciary
Committees, we investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election
and produced empirical evidence that state actors will use technology to
undermine democracy.
Through this work, it was evident that
advances in technology, including the challenges posed by AI are
complex. Government, private companies, and others in society must
tackle these challenges together. President Biden and I are committed to
doing our part – including by advancing potential new regulations and
supporting new legislation – so that everyone can safely benefit from
technological innovations.
As I shared today with CEOs of
companies at the forefront of American AI innovation, the private sector
has an ethical, moral, and legal responsibility to ensure the safety
and security of their products. And every company must comply with
existing laws to protect the American people. I look forward to the
follow through and follow up in the weeks to come.
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