It's worth noting that Eric Schmidt was the chair of the (US) National Security Commission on AI and their recommendation was that we give them[0] hundreds of b

It's worth noting that Eric Schmidt was the chair of the (US) National Security Commission on AI and their recommendation was that we give them[0] hundreds of billions of dollars or so[1], as soon as possible. to ensure the USA doesn't lose an AI arms race. Full report is here: https://www.nscai.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Full-Report-Digital-1.pdf https://www.nscai.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Full-Report... [0] They don't come out and say "Give DeepMind billions of dollars", but in practice a huge amount of the funding will go to the big players with deep ties to the government. This report helps to justify spending all that money. Also, I don't actually disagree that this is a terrible idea, just that it helps to be aware that this whole thing is a massive funding grab in addition to also probably being a reasonable idea. [1] "The $40 billion we recommend to expand and democratize federal AI research and development (R&D) is a modest down payment on future breakthroughs. We will also need to build secure digital infrastructure across the nation, shared cloud computing access, and smart cities to truly leverage AI for the benefit of all Americans. We envision hundreds of billions in federal spending in the coming years."