Both AI and cryptocurrencies move very quickly and are highly technical, making them difficult to regulate – but whistleblowers are being silenced.
Another week, another warning about artificial intelligence.
But this is an open letter — Expressing concerns that it could exacerbate inequality, fuel misinformation, and lead to uncontrollable artificial intelligence systems that “potentially lead to the extinction of humanity” — the strike was different.
Why? Because four of the anonymous signers are current employees of OpenAI, the maker of the widely popular ChatGPT. Six others were working there.
The fact that many people closely involved in bringing AI to the masses fear the future is important. While they believe this still-emerging technology could provide “unprecedented benefits” to humanity, they fear the public – and regulators – do not understand the full picture.
“AI companies possess significant non-public information about the capabilities and limitations of their systems, the adequacy of their protection measures, and the levels of risk from different types of harm. However, they currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, not with “Civil society and we don’t think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily.”
Right to warning
The similarities between AI and the cryptocurrency space are very stark. Both industries move incredibly quickly and are highly technical. This creates a major stumbling block for governments and regulators alike. First, some politicians may find it difficult to understand the issue itself. Just ask American actor Brad Sherman, who infamously referred to Bitcoin's creator as “Saratoshi Nagamoto.”
Hence, it becomes difficult to prepare well-thought-out laws that encourage innovation among good actors while at the same time deterring crime among bad guys. By the time the authorities catch up, such industries often become so unrecognizable that the legislation on the table fails to reflect the reality of how the technology is used… and where the greatest risks lie. It is clear that there is still significant regulatory paralysis regarding cryptocurrencies in the US – more than 15 years later. Bitcoin was first launched.
As the AI-focused open letter points out, the lack of effective government oversight means there is a heavy reliance on whistleblowers within companies to hold them accountable. One of the authors' biggest concerns concerns how confidentiality agreements prevent people from speaking publicly.
“Ordinary whistleblower protections are inadequate because they focus on illegal activity, while many of the risks we are concerned about are not yet regulated. Some of us reasonably fear various forms of retaliation.“
Right to warning
Once again, there is an analogy between AI and cryptocurrencies here – as evidenced by a recent, in-depth and devastating report released by an independent examiner tasked with investigating the collapse of FTX in 2022. In this case, six anonymous whistleblowers were found to have legitimate accounts in which concerns were paid out with an amount Up to $25 million. One of them was asked to apologize to now-jailed CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and they ended up reaching a $16 million settlement after he resigned from his position.
While the cryptocurrency industry has made promising strides to right the wrongs of the past after a series of bankruptcies in recent years — BlockFi, Voyager, and Celsius among them — there is still more work to be done. This makes the four commitments required of AI companies in this open letter particularly applicable to the digital assets sector.
There is a demand from leading AI companies to refrain from enforcing clauses prohibiting service criticism from employees concerned about emerging risks – and to introduce anonymous procedures so concerns can be raised to boards, regulators and experts. Some of the biggest cryptocurrency-related controversies could have been avoided if similar safeguards were in place.
In addition to embracing a culture of open criticism, there is a call for leaders in AI to pledge not to retaliate against workers who disclose confidential information after all other possibilities for escalating the problem have been exhausted.
It is unclear how far this open letter will move the needle on the quest to regulate AI. There is something to be said for the transparency inherent in blockchain technology, where the flow of funds – and transaction records – can be monitored in real time. Large linguistic models, which are usually built behind closed doors, are more obscure by comparison.
But the consequences of failure to act and the potential harm consumers face daily are equally dire in both industries. Many cryptocurrency investors have lost their savings because they were not adequately informed of the risks – with a lack of coordination between international regulatory bodies to prevent bad actors abroad from going unchecked. As AI becomes smarter and more user-friendly with each passing day, the livelihoods of millions of hard-working people could be at risk as well.