00:00Hello, I'm Joel Pollack, opinion editor at the California Post.
00:03California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided he's going to do something about artificial
00:07intelligence, or AI, and the threat that it supposedly poses to all of humanity.
00:13Newsom has issued an executive order requiring tech companies to develop what he calls
00:18a kill switch that would allow the AI models to be suspended the instant they pose
00:23some kind of danger to humanity. Now, this is a recycled idea. There was once an idea for a
00:29kill switch for the internet as a whole. More than 15 years ago, legislators on Capitol Hill in
00:34Washington tried to pass bills that would create a kill switch because they said the internet was
00:38becoming too big and possibly too dangerous, and there needed to be some control by civilians or
00:44governments, and it never went anywhere, partly for constitutional reasons, but also for technical
00:49reasons. Nobody could really figure out how this internet kill switch would work. And the AI kill
00:54switch has the same problem. Newsom's executive order says that the kill switch would be
00:59operated by a third party. Well, who is that third party? Who appoints that third party? Who controls
01:05that third party? Wouldn't that third party be even more powerful and dangerous than the AI
01:10companies are right now? So there are all kinds of questions. But politically, Newsom's idea is
01:16brilliant. It uses visual persuasion. You can almost instantly visualize this big red button or red
01:23switch or lever that some hero rushes in and pulls or presses, sort of like in an action movie to
01:30save
01:31the day, save the world. And he's going to force everyone to think about that image because it is
01:36so compelling. It's going to be the idea that other candidates have to respond to that even President
01:41Donald Trump might have to react to. Trump, of course, is very bullish on the prospects of AI. He likes
01:46the
01:46idea that America can lead the world in this technology, and he's worried about the Chinese catching up to us,
01:51possibly dominating our economy, our military, if their AI models are smarter and better than ours.
01:56So Newsom is drawing a contrast with the president while he's creating a very powerful visual image.
02:00A bad idea, but good politics. For the California Post, I'm Joel Pollack.
Comments