Comment by estearum
2 hours ago
No one is confused about how regulatory capture works. We're confused by the allegations that labs are deliberately producing safety problems in order to achieve regulatory capture.
Repeatedly blowing up your own munitions factory is not a good way to prevent other people, but not yourself, from running a munitions factory. Obviously.
Obviously the far better solution is to blow up other people's factories, or make allegations of unsafe conditions at other factories, and repeatedly demonstrate excellence and safety within your own.
Here, award-winning gymnasts are alleging that the frontier labs are simply choosing not to do that, and instead choosing to have explosions and minor fires every few days at their own factories, many of which they try to hide (and probably many more of which they successfully do hide). Believing such astounding bullshit is a testament to the power of motivated reasoning and the conspiratorial mindrot that now plagues our civilization.
> Repeatedly blowing up your own munitions factory is not a good way to prevent other people, but not yourself, from running a munitions factory. Obviously.
No, that's not obvious at all. It seems like a perfect way to demonstrate the danger of the category as a whole, then position yourself as learning from your mistakes and willing to cooperate/support/advise.
"Perfect?"
More perfect than simply not making mistakes and allowing your competitors to make mistakes (or to, apparently, fake mistakes in their own attempt to get regulated)?
Regulators reading OpenAI's 99th mea culpa: "Ah yes, well I bet they've figured it out this time! We should regulate everyone else!" Lol what a joke.
> More perfect than simply not making mistakes and allowing your competitors to make mistakes (or to, apparently, fake mistakes in their own attempt to get regulated)?
I don't think any of them are in a position to allow or not allow their competitors to make mistakes.
The point that you're not getting here is that the advantage comes from actually being seen to make mistakes, and then signalling contrition and commitment to rectify them. That persuades people of both the need for regulation, and their own subsequent responsibility (which implies trustworthiness to participate in the regulation).
> Regulators reading OpenAI's 99th mea culpa: "Ah yes, well I bet they've figured it out this time! We should regulate everyone else!"
Again you're not getting it. The drive isn't to "regulate everyone else", it's to regulate everyone, period. The whole point of regulatory capture is being able to (a) use regulatory compliance as a competitive advantage, and (b) influence the regulatory regime in your favor -- you want to be a target of regulation just as much as your competitors in order to achieve that.
Messaging that the whole industry needs to be regulated, but that you're ready and willing to work with the regime, is exactly how you do regulatory capture. Demonstrating that you are capable of completely mitigating risk on your own without any intervention is an argument against regulation from the outset.