4 ms·

The problem with government regulation of AI is that the biggest threat is government use of AI. Rules for thee but not for me!

goatcode 6y ago
Any governing body seems to leave a lot of room for "except for pigs" when they write down their rules. The bigger the body, the more potential pigs there are.
- brobdingnagians 6y ago
  Your use of "pigs" reminds me of: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
  - gramakri 6y ago
    It's meant to remind you of that quote :) because the rules are made by pigs in the book Animal farm. Your quote comes from the same book
geraneum 6y ago
Government (ab)use of AI is is of course a serious threat. But I’d say big corporations abuse of AI is even worse. Assuming we are talking about a democratic state, at least there are some checks and balances on governments whereas people cannot elect a FAANG CEO or go to a ‘.gov’ website to read a transcript of board meetings. Edit: I am by no means advocating for government’s use of AI in any form.
- trutannus 6y ago
  A business can't lock you in a prison cell. I'd argue that the checks and balances at this point are little more than a mirage. Ruling by fiat is becoming more common, accountability less so. Government use of AI is far more menacing to me than a business using it.
  - cheschire 6y ago
    This is needlessly pedantic, but private prisons are absolutely a thing in America.
    - jaredsohn 6y ago
      The part that matters is what makes a person required to be in prison (i.e. government law / judicial system) and not who runs the prison.
    - trutannus 6y ago
      Of course, but the person who assigns you to that prison is still acting on behalf of the state. It would be correct to say that a business can keep you in a prison though!
    - bhupy 6y ago
      Although private prisons exist (in strikingly small numbers[1]), private corporations can't just decide to throw you into a private prison on a whim; the government decides that. [1] https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states/ https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-priso...
      - La1n 6y ago
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal Private prison kickbacks for conviction are a thing.
        bhupy 6y ago
        They're not presently a thing; it's just a scandal that happened at one time in history. It's also corruption, and corruption exists in both the private as well as public sectors. In the case of the Kids for Cash scandal, there have since been lawsuits, overturned adjudications, and commissions to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Solving corruption is orthogonal to the question of whether private corporations can perform extra-judicial imprisonment with impunity. That really just doesn't happen at scale, because it can't.
- neilparikh 6y ago
  Note that these checks and balances don't apply to non-citizens of the country, who are the people affected the use of AI in military (one of the exemptions listed above). If a EU member state abuses AI in the military against a non-European, what direct recourse do they have?
joe_the_user 6y ago
Government does regulate itself, sometimes. The proposal seems to be concerned with regulating the government, for example limiting "crime prediction". Also, the private institutions it's talking about are things like credit bureaus and employers large enough to use AI for screening employees.
- goatcode 6y ago
  >for example limiting "crime prediction" I saw that too, and ended up wondering if it'll be ignored if it's seen that crime prediction falls under the "public safety" exception, from time to time (or eventually, altogether). That's the problem with vague things like "public safety" being tied to regulation, imo.

goatcode 6y ago

Any governing body seems to leave a lot of room for "except for pigs" when they write down their rules. The bigger the body, the more potential pigs there are.

brobdingnagians 6y ago
Your use of "pigs" reminds me of: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
- gramakri 6y ago
  It's meant to remind you of that quote :) because the rules are made by pigs in the book Animal farm. Your quote comes from the same book

geraneum 6y ago

Government (ab)use of AI is is of course a serious threat. But I’d say big corporations abuse of AI is even worse. Assuming we are talking about a democratic state, at least there are some checks and balances on governments whereas people cannot elect a FAANG CEO or go to a ‘.gov’ website to read a transcript of board meetings. Edit: I am by no means advocating for government’s use of AI in any form.

trutannus 6y ago
A business can't lock you in a prison cell. I'd argue that the checks and balances at this point are little more than a mirage. Ruling by fiat is becoming more common, accountability less so. Government use of AI is far more menacing to me than a business using it.
- cheschire 6y ago
  This is needlessly pedantic, but private prisons are absolutely a thing in America.
  - jaredsohn 6y ago
    The part that matters is what makes a person required to be in prison (i.e. government law / judicial system) and not who runs the prison.
  - trutannus 6y ago
    Of course, but the person who assigns you to that prison is still acting on behalf of the state. It would be correct to say that a business can keep you in a prison though!
  - bhupy 6y ago
    Although private prisons exist (in strikingly small numbers[1]), private corporations can't just decide to throw you into a private prison on a whim; the government decides that. [1] https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states/ https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-priso...
    - La1n 6y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal Private prison kickbacks for conviction are a thing.
      - bhupy 6y ago
        They're not presently a thing; it's just a scandal that happened at one time in history. It's also corruption, and corruption exists in both the private as well as public sectors. In the case of the Kids for Cash scandal, there have since been lawsuits, overturned adjudications, and commissions to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Solving corruption is orthogonal to the question of whether private corporations can perform extra-judicial imprisonment with impunity. That really just doesn't happen at scale, because it can't.
neilparikh 6y ago
Note that these checks and balances don't apply to non-citizens of the country, who are the people affected the use of AI in military (one of the exemptions listed above). If a EU member state abuses AI in the military against a non-European, what direct recourse do they have?

joe_the_user 6y ago

Government does regulate itself, sometimes. The proposal seems to be concerned with regulating the government, for example limiting "crime prediction". Also, the private institutions it's talking about are things like credit bureaus and employers large enough to use AI for screening employees.

goatcode 6y ago
>for example limiting "crime prediction" I saw that too, and ended up wondering if it'll be ignored if it's seen that crime prediction falls under the "public safety" exception, from time to time (or eventually, altogether). That's the problem with vague things like "public safety" being tied to regulation, imo.