Comment by nickserv
2 days ago
The government is forcing them to change their policy, by definition that is regulation and oversight.
Let's say that the government was forcing a company to change their overall right-to-repair or return policy in order to avoid being on a blacklist, would that not be seen as oversight and regulation?
Whether the regulation is legitimate or of benefit is a different argument.
You misunderstand - a government normally represents the people, we appoint them to well, govern, in our name. I understand how this is confusing in a place like the US, where the government often seems to represent the business (or lately a small group of poor examples of humanity), not the people.
This is condescending and fails to clarify your point at all. Are you saying there is no oversight or regulation in governance? Or that there is no oversight on AI? That a government pressuring a private company to change a policy is not regulation or oversight?
When we ask for regulation and oversight from the government, generally we mean regulation and oversight designed to help consumers or citizens and align the interests of institutions with that of the citizens. Yes the US trying to force Anthropic to let them use Claude in mass-surveillance and auto-kill robots is technically regulation, no its not good regulation. It seems to be designed to hurt the average citizen not help them. The oversight that might help here is say the courts or congress stepping in and facilitating a public discussion and legal review on the kind of surveillance the DOW intends to carry out. Is that so hard to understand without being spelled out?
Normally?
All governments are in the egg-breaking business some of the time. Most of them are most of the time. Some of them all of the time.
Very few are good at making omelettes.
I think GP was referred to lack of regulation and oversight over the government.
Of course, but that is incoherent. Regulation and oversight is government.
No, it is a famously coherent concept over millenia.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
"Who will guard the guards themselves?" or "Who will watch the watchmen?"
>>A Latin phrase found in the Satires (Satire VI, lines 347–348), a work of the 1st–2nd century Roman poet Juvenal. It may be translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?" or "Who will watch the watchmen?". ... The phrase, as it is normally quoted in Latin, comes from the Satires of Juvenal, the 1st–2nd century Roman satirist. ...Its modern usage the phrase has wide-reaching applications to concepts such as tyrannical governments, uncontrollably oppressive dictatorships, and police or judicial corruption and overreach... [0]
The point is a government that is not overseen by the people devolves into tyranny.
So yes, the point is to regulate the regulators and oversee the oversight committee.
Anthropic was happy to have it's AI used for military purposes, with two exceptions: 1) no automated killing, there had to be a human in the "kill chain" of command, and 2) no use for mass surveillance. This govt "Dept of War" is demanding Anthropic drop those two safety requirements or it threatens to make Anthropic a pariah. These demands by the govt are both immoral and insane. The "regulator and overseer" needs to be regulated and overseen.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quis_custodiet_ipsos_custodes%...
2 replies →
The government doesn't seem to be forcing them to do anything. They're saying that doing business with them is contingent upon changing the policy. So, they could simply stop doing business with the government.
Hegseth could come to my house today and tell me that I need to start kicking puppies in order to do business with him, and I could just say no. No coercion happening.
If they comply, they can continue bidding on government contracts.
If they refuse, they will be put on a national security blacklist, like for Huawei's telecommunication equipment.
Seems pretty forceful to me.