This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org

By Brad Reed

Several Big Tech CEOs over the weekend called for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence, but some advocates are warning that these Silicon Valley oligarchs are not to be trusted.

Evan Greer, director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, on Monday dismissed the recent statements made by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, X CEO Elon Musk, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calling for more guardrails to be placed on AI development.

“We can’t trust the AI industry to regulate itself,” said Greer. “We can’t really trust anything these self-interested billionaires say.”

Greer conceded that the CEOs’ warnings about the potential dangers of AI deserved to be heeded, but argued that allowing them to craft their own safeguards would be a grave mistake.

“It’s clear that these industry leaders think they are best positioned to craft AI policy for the good of all humanity,” said Greer. “We think that’s horseshit. Lawmakers should be listening to independent experts, researchers, civil society, and the communities most impacted.”

“Congress should act,” Greer added, “but they shouldn’t just do whatever the AI bros tell them to.”

Greer’s sentiment was echoed by Colorado Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros, who wrote in a Sunday social media post that “we need to regulate AI for all of the existential threats it poses,” before adding that “we cannot expect the very people who got us into this mess to self-regulate their way out.”

“Congress needs to act now,” Kiros emphasized, “and guard against ANY corporate influence.”

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday indicated that he was perfectly content to allow the AI industry to regulate itself.

During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Johnson said that “Congress is obviously less qualified” to write rules for AI development “than the people who are pushing this frontier to know the ins and outs of it.” Johnson then insisted that any effort to regulate AI needs to be “a partnership with the industry itself, with the corporations that are doing this.”

See also: AI Firms Can and Must Face Liability for ‘Dangerous, Unvetted Products,’ Says Lina Khan

This drew an incredulous reaction from Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who said the speaker appeared to be making excuses for congressional inaction.

“Based on the speaker’s excuse, Congress could never pass laws or do oversight on medicine, energy, airplanes, etc.,” wrote Lieu in a Sunday social media post. “Members of Congress don’t need to be [computer science] majors to understand it’s a good idea to require AI companies to be able to turn off AI models/agents if they go rogue.”

See also: Sanders Sets Briefing on ‘Extraordinary Dangers’ Posed by Breakneck AI Development

Johnson isn’t the only Republican to oppose AI regulation, as President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that his own intellect was singlehandedly capable of regulating the technology, which is so complicated that even its own creators have acknowledged difficulties in understanding it.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT,” Trump wrote in a social media post, “and the USA has that, in spades!”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—whose district includes multiple Silicon Valley giants—argued on Saturday that the AI industry feels emboldened to regulate itself due to a crisis of “elite impunity,” in which no one in the American ruling class faces consequences for disasters such as the Iraq War or the 2008 financial crisis.

“It is time for We the People to stand up,” wrote Khanna. “And demand to make the rules and hold people accountable with civil and criminal liability for their actions.”

[KS]

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