Welcome to New Jersey Insight: The Global View. While New Jersey Insight primarily focuses on domestic law and politics with a New Jersey lens, I will occasionally cover developments around the world, especially (though not exclusively) where a strong nexus exists with the United States.
I don’t usually write about artificial intelligence. But watching the dialogue around AI for some time, and now after Jacob Coxon’s post, the release of Dario Amodei’s essay, and the reactions to them, a few things seem apparent to me:
1. The current path of unchecked AI development is likely to lead to profound, negative consequences for humanity. For starters, no one has come to terms on how to address the economic disruption to come. Further, the idea that AI can not only act autonomously, exhibit human-like qualities like “recursive self-improvement,” and undertake harmful projects—whether at someone’s direction or on its own—should all be a wakeup call.
2. Voluntary measures, like third-party watchdogs hired by AI companies to police themselves, are helpful, but not sufficient. Considering the scale of the potential harm, the people’s representatives—Congress—must have a say on how AI can be permitted to develop and how accountability should flow. Congress should not be abdicating its role to lead on such a massive issue.
3. The United States can still aim to outfox and outcompete countries like China in the AI race and still act responsibly for humanity. History has shown us that it’s possible (e.g., the control of nuclear arms), and we can do so again. No reason that intensive diplomatic efforts now couldn’t work to guard against the extreme potential harms of AI while leaving plenty of room for countries to compete.
4. AI has direct implications for our democracy. We’ve only started witnessing some of it now with the intense reaction to data center development in many communities. And the issue around data centers will likely act as a force for this year’s midterm elections. But over the long term, as AI becomes more and more ubiquitous in American life, and as more and more folks feel the impact in their personal lives (e.g., the elimination of job categories, the costs in goods and services, etc.), no question that the frustration will permeate in our politics. And the question that exists today—whether people trust democratic institutions to respond to their needs —will be even more pressing, if not existential.