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Is the creation of artificial general intelligence akin to the development of the atomic bomb? And if so, how can America protect itself against ascendent rivals? Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, for one, is worried.<\/p>\n
The Manhattan Project helped usher in the era of Cold War superpowers in part because Soviet spies infiltrated Los Alamos, stealing secrets that helped it quickly amass its own nuclear arsenal as a strategic deterrent. Decades later, the United States may find itself locked in a new arms race, this time with China over the transformational technology of AGI.<\/p>\n
When viewed through this prism, Andreessen argues that American AI labs are the \u201csecurity equivalent of swiss cheese\u201d where secrets could easily be passed on to Beijing via a modern-day\u00a0Rosenberg couple<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe conclusion is obvious: OpenAI must be immediately nationalized,\u201d the co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz wrote in a battle of words with fellow VC luminary Vinod Khosla, one of OpenAI\u2019s earliest investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Andreessen\u2019s suggestion that the breakthrough startup behind ChatGPT and\u00a0Sora<\/a>\u2014as well as others like it\u2014could prove a tempting target for Beijing\u2019s spy network found credence. Elon Musk, for example, chimed in that \u201cit would certainly be easy for a state actor to steal their IP.\u201d<\/p>\n It would certainly be easy for a state actor to steal their IP<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Khosla had earlier defended OpenAI\u2019s decision to publish less and less of its research amid its controversial transformation from non-profit to a commercial entity backed by Microsoft<\/a>. The company is now being\u00a0sued by Musk<\/a>\u00a0over breaching its founding agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Andreessen, who has declared a \u201cfondness\u201d for libertarianism, clarified he doesn\u2019t actually want government to intervene. The statement largely was meant to point out the folly of OpenAI\u2019s newfound love of closed source development in today\u2019s rapidly innovating AGI sector\u2014and to call out people like Khosla as \u201cAI authoritarians\u201d.<\/p>\n Who controls generative AI has become the focus of an increasingly strident debate amid a\u00a0goldrush<\/a>\u00a0that has pushed the valuation of AI chip company Nvidia<\/a> to $2 trillion. Musk initially helped found and finance OpenAI in\u00a0December 2015<\/a>\u00a0as a response to Google<\/a>, the embodiment of a dominant closed-source AI company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Google has since fallen behind and no longer threatens to dominate the commercial market for AI. Indeed its Bard AI tool, now called Gemini, sparked controversy over \u201cunacceptable<\/a>\u201d instances of reverse racism in its algorithmic biases. It also created a political row with India after it cited experts as characterizing the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as \u201cfascist\u201d.<\/p>\n Andreessen pointed out the government in Delhi has now stipulated any companies seeking to deploy AI and Gen AI must obtain\u00a0prior approval<\/a>\u00a0from the country\u2019s IT ministry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\u2018AI authoritarians\u2019<\/h2>\n
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