As far as I understand, this is about banning the use of Anthropic for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. And while the idea of building one fully controlled, nationwide AI system may sound tempting, in reality it’s still just a fantasy and wouldn’t be very useful in practice.
Why the fuck does the president have authority to set specific IT policy for the government. He might not even have it, he loves making policies he doesn’t actually have the authority to make.
Because the POTUS is the chief executive. His literal job is to manage the executive branch of the government. Unless his policies go against the law, there isn't anyone who can legally dispute his policies for the executive. And if he does something illegal, the Senate can impeach him.
Good fucking on anthropic, I've long held that they seem like the AI company best handling existential risk, and this elevates that opinion. If you don't want terminator, not helping people invent terminator is a good first step.
If OpenAI and Google stay in sync with Anthropic on this, will Trump try to ban all of them from the federal government? What alternatives would they turn to?
They might de facto take them over via the defense production act, board demands, or shut them down, and then put the screws on Google who they can already control via their shareholders.
There is a whole situation with dealing with military contract during Trump 1, and it didn't go well for Google, I doubt Sundar will go the same route once again.
Imagine if a private company had developed the nuclear bomb, and said in its terms "This can never be used as a first strike weapon and must only be used as a retaliation against imminent existential attacks on the US homeland". I think a lot of people would have lauded the attempt by a weapon's creators to restrain the destructive potential of their creation.
Separately:
An opinion piece in the NYT suggested that Anthropic should not have restrictions and that "lawful use" provision should properly constrain the government. The fact that we have to hope Anthropic holds to their commitment is a show of no-confidence in the rule of law and the legislature of the United States to protect the people.
Seriously. All they said was "don't do mass surveillance and don't create autonomous killbots" and the president literally frames it as "Anthropic vs. the Constitution" and calls them woke radicals. How any citizen doesn't immediately have their stomach churning is beyond me.
Oh wait, out of [Fox, WSJ, NYT, WaPo, NPR, Newsmax] only Fox doesn't have an article up about it, and Newsmax left out the part about domestic mass surveillance. I am shocked!
This should come as no surprise. The administration has no tolerance for anyone with “values” or “scruples” that challenge their power. They fired Judge Advocate Generals (military lawyers) that refused to authorize strikes on civilian boats, for one recent example. If you say ‘no’ for any reason, they fire you.
I think it has also been pretty clear from the beginning of his current term that the primary principle of this administration is to pass whatever has been paid for. E.g. the literally hundreds of executive orders that he started signing en masse the moment he got elected, none of which were written in his style or pen or even possible to write in such volume for a single person in a single day.
Shouldn't this be great news that the government is banned from using Anthropic?
I don't know why suddenly the narrative here turns to spinning this as "Trump is evil" when this is actually keeping the AI company out of the government's reach.
Is it weird that out a failed negotiation, there is a threat against a private entity publicly?
Isn't it supposed to be freedom of something? Does this trigger any laws or something? Just for curiosity sake
As far as I understand, this is about banning the use of Anthropic for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. And while the idea of building one fully controlled, nationwide AI system may sound tempting, in reality it’s still just a fantasy and wouldn’t be very useful in practice.
Why the fuck does the president have authority to set specific IT policy for the government. He might not even have it, he loves making policies he doesn’t actually have the authority to make.
Because the POTUS is the chief executive. His literal job is to manage the executive branch of the government. Unless his policies go against the law, there isn't anyone who can legally dispute his policies for the executive. And if he does something illegal, the Senate can impeach him.
At least, so goes the theory.
Who else should have that authority?
Congress
Unlike Europe, the USA is not a technocracy. If you want to learn more about the 3 branches of government and the scope of their powers, ask your AI.
Good fucking on anthropic, I've long held that they seem like the AI company best handling existential risk, and this elevates that opinion. If you don't want terminator, not helping people invent terminator is a good first step.
> [ Won't be my little defense b? Then you can't do government contracts at all! ]
if we can't have it no one can?
Ban all AI use from government, so maybe we can actually have real humans in charge again.
Now we will all see how much power the president has over the markets which clearly prefer Anthropics offering
If OpenAI and Google stay in sync with Anthropic on this, will Trump try to ban all of them from the federal government? What alternatives would they turn to?
They might de facto take them over via the defense production act, board demands, or shut them down, and then put the screws on Google who they can already control via their shareholders.
They would use Grok, as they already do.
They won't, not Google at least
There is a whole situation with dealing with military contract during Trump 1, and it didn't go well for Google, I doubt Sundar will go the same route once again.
Imagine if a private company had developed the nuclear bomb, and said in its terms "This can never be used as a first strike weapon and must only be used as a retaliation against imminent existential attacks on the US homeland". I think a lot of people would have lauded the attempt by a weapon's creators to restrain the destructive potential of their creation.
Separately:
An opinion piece in the NYT suggested that Anthropic should not have restrictions and that "lawful use" provision should properly constrain the government. The fact that we have to hope Anthropic holds to their commitment is a show of no-confidence in the rule of law and the legislature of the United States to protect the people.
Seriously. All they said was "don't do mass surveillance and don't create autonomous killbots" and the president literally frames it as "Anthropic vs. the Constitution" and calls them woke radicals. How any citizen doesn't immediately have their stomach churning is beyond me.
Oh wait, out of [Fox, WSJ, NYT, WaPo, NPR, Newsmax] only Fox doesn't have an article up about it, and Newsmax left out the part about domestic mass surveillance. I am shocked!
At this point I'm starting to wonder if the US military has only served to make my life worse, as an American. During my lifetime.
The rest of the world: First time?
Were Bosnia (1992) and Serbia (1999) before your time?
Please be more specific about your point.
Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185528
There are a bunch of submissions on the story (with a few different sources), some with 15+ points, none appeared on the front page.
I think we'll see many many dupes. Hopefully the comment threads will be merged eventually.
They will, usually rapidly, if you email the mods! (Footer contact link.) Otherwise, they might or might not be, depending on coincidences and such.
This should come as no surprise. The administration has no tolerance for anyone with “values” or “scruples” that challenge their power. They fired Judge Advocate Generals (military lawyers) that refused to authorize strikes on civilian boats, for one recent example. If you say ‘no’ for any reason, they fire you.
I think it has also been pretty clear from the beginning of his current term that the primary principle of this administration is to pass whatever has been paid for. E.g. the literally hundreds of executive orders that he started signing en masse the moment he got elected, none of which were written in his style or pen or even possible to write in such volume for a single person in a single day.
The administration has no tolerance for anyone...who refuses to get their knees dirty.
Russia got a deal of a rube
Shouldn't this be great news that the government is banned from using Anthropic?
I don't know why suddenly the narrative here turns to spinning this as "Trump is evil" when this is actually keeping the AI company out of the government's reach.
The level of cognitive dissonance here is unreal.
pathetic