At a recent 3 hour long meeting with Tesla investors Elon Musk acknowledged the part he and his businesses are playing in increasing the risks from AI. The maverick entrepreneur, not known for his love of regulation, went as far as saying:
“We need some kind of, like, regulatory authority or something overseeing AI development. Make sure it’s operating in the public interest. It’s quite dangerous technology.”
Of course he’s not wrong. But it’s hard to square the circle of this rule-breaking innovator also wanting to be bound by regulations that would, necessarily, put limits on AI use.
Government lobbying by Big Tech companies is growing rapidly with Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft spending almost $69 million in 2022 at the US federal level alone. The latest EU Transparency Register lists Big Tech in four of the top five places for corporate lobbying spend across the EU in their September 2022 publication. We expect this will have risen sharply when the next data is published as there has been so much AI regulation activity in the EU over the past 18 months.
“I fear I may have done some things to accelerate it”. Musk paused, then sighed. “This one stresses me out. I don’t know what to say about it.”
Reuters.com
It’s long been true that large businesses have an outsized influence on legislation and regulations. Smaller businesses and third sector organisations simply don’t have the time, budgets or collaborative structures to match corporate lobbying power. But it’s still important for their voice to be heard. That’s why AI Governance talks to politicians, civil servants and regulators to keep putting across the wider interests of society and all types and sizes of organisations. We may not be able to out-gun Big Tech, but we can provide some balance. And if Elon’s really on the same page that may help us shift power too.
If you want help with shaping regulation, or just keeping up with the proposals, get in touch [email protected]
Elon Musk image courtesy of Duncan Hull, Debbie Rowe, Photographer, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76353307
