Three Labs With a Plan and A Memorandum
Summary
The US Administration released National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-11, an AI policy document interpreted as asserting broad government control over AI systems for national security, potentially including a ban on vendors like Anthropic. This memorandum outlines four pillars—Adoption, Adaptation, Assurance, and Accountability—with "Assurance" raising concerns about the government's ability to use, disable, or modify AI systems without vendor consent. Concurrently, OpenAI published its plan for AGI, advocating for international coordination to slow frontier AI development for safety, while also proposing recursive self-improvement, economic acceleration, and universal personal AGI. The author highlights inherent contradictions in OpenAI's approach regarding power concentration and human control. This contrasts with a perceived philosophical divide between OpenAI and Anthropic, with OpenAI's Chief Futurist Joshua Achiam characterizing Anthropic's vision as a "machine God" versus OpenAI's "tools for humanity." Anthropic employees largely dispute this framing, emphasizing a more realistic view of AI control challenges.
Key takeaway
For Policy Makers and AI Ethicists evaluating national AI strategies, recognize that government memorandums like NSPM-11 prioritize unconstrained operational control over vendor terms, potentially impacting future AI procurement and development partnerships. You should scrutinize proposed AI plans, such as OpenAI's, for inherent contradictions between broad distribution and maintaining human control. Understand that fundamental philosophical differences in AI alignment, like those between Anthropic and OpenAI, directly influence model behavior and long-term societal implications.
Key insights
AI policy and development strategies reveal fundamental philosophical divides on control, safety, and power distribution among key actors.
Principles
- Government policy aims for unconstrained AI use.
- AI safety requires international development slowdowns.
- Philosophical divides shape AI alignment approaches.
Method
OpenAI's plan involves building an automated AI researcher for recursive self-improvement, accelerating economic growth, and distributing personal AGIs globally.
In practice
- Evaluate government AI contracts for control clauses.
- Compare AI models based on alignment philosophy.
- Monitor international AI safety coordination efforts.
Topics
- AI Policy
- National Security AI
- AGI Development
- AI Alignment
- OpenAI Strategy
- Anthropic Philosophy
Best for: CTO, VP of Engineering/Data, Executive, Policy Maker, AI Ethicist, Director of AI/ML
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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Don't Worry About the Vase.