Not wanting to go through that messy process of passing laws or promulgating regulations, the Biden Administration imposed a “voluntary” set of rules on Big Tech addressing Artificial Intelligence. The rules are as voluntary as a tax payment. From Harold Furchtgott-Roth & Kirk Arnerat realclearmarkets.com:
There’s an old military adage: “never volunteer for anything.” At first blush, it might seem downright unpatriotic. But perhaps this saying was coined by an officer who spent too much time in Washington.
Last month, the Biden administration marshalled executives from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection to the White House to sign a “voluntary” agreement that, among other things, would subject their AI systems to audits before public release and require data sharing with the government and academics.
If the agreement were truly “voluntary,” there would be no need for anyone to travel to D.C., much less the White House. Willing businesses could simply sign the pledge virtually, promising best efforts towards an ostensibly noble goal—assuming that doing so wouldn’t invite antitrust questions.
But, of course, the agreement was anything but voluntary. It was planned and coordinated by the White House. America has hundreds of thousands of businesses that enter into contracts and agreements on daily basis. Few, if any, of them visit Washington—much less the White House—purely of their own volition.
So then, why did major tech and AI executives find themselves in D.C. last month?
