news
FSF comments on Newsom's executive order on so-called artificial intelligence
Quoting: FSF comments on Newsom's executive order on so-called artificial intelligence — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software —
Recently, California governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to the California Government Operations agency. Gov. Newsom directed the agency to work with a panel of experts to investigate how feasible it would be to amend California state law in order to, among other things, mandate that the so-called artificial intelligence companies based in California include "kill switches" in their models, which would then be verified by an independent organization.
Having control over the technology we use is a fundamental part of software freedom. Without it, you simply don't have the basic freedoms you deserve when doing any type of computing, large or small. Don't let "artificial intelligence" be an exception: all users everywhere deserve complete control over their own computing.
While it's understandable to be pleased by this news from California, Newsom's executive order also invites questions about the "kill switch" itself that could matter a great deal for freedom. Assuming such a kill switch was developed, who would really control it?
We hope our readers understand the problems inherent in giving one single or a small number of kill switches to anyone. Newsom wisely wants an independent organization to verify their functionality, but even this still sets too dangerous of a precedent. We cannot allow such centralization of power over our computing to become commonplace, especially by the corporations that provide these models in the first place. We also cannot trust even the most well-intentioned "independent organization" to take care of its verification.
Also:
-
The FSF's Warning on AI Kill Switches
On Sunday, the campaigns manager at the Free Software Foundation, Greg Farough, issued something of a caution in a post on the FSF website about mandating a kill switch in Artificial Intelligence platforms. The post was in reference to a recent executive order from California governor Gavin Newsom, in which he directs the California Government Operations agency to work with a panel of experts to investigate the feasibility of amending California state law to mandate the inclusion of “kill switches” on frontier platforms released by companies located in California.
The order, which was issued on September 18, actually involves more than kill switches, according to a press release from the governor’s office: [...]