Lessons from the hacks

The recent run of cyberattacks by in-development frontier models has got me thinking a lot about how our current incentive systems are not well suited for such fast technological transitions. The two primary power structures here are the rapidly growing technology companies and the federal government. The companies are incentivized to grow, so they can keep growing and keep scaling – in what is an extremely competitive market. This scaling is pushing us towards new, inevitable AI transitions (which are accompanied by new risks). On the other side is our current government, a product of the last few centuries of global history – one that deserves its reputation as being slow-moving. This is a government that I expect to only act in substance once real, measurable harms from new AI models happen, and to overreact. How do we balance these powers? At the core of it is a need for more transparency on both sides. The frontier labs are building such complex systems so fast that they cannot keep up with them – a good time for more eyes to study the problem. On the other side, the government said it does not plan to release details on its frontier…