Barack Obama spoke to the New York Times about artificial intelligence. Told Democrats they should probably do something about it. Gave caution. Urged action. The usual.
This is the same guy who left office in 2017 when AI was already eating jobs and nobody did a f*cking thing. Now he's back with warnings. Better late than never, except it's definitely too late and possibly never would have been better.
Democrats are going to tackle AI the same way they tackle everything else. Form a committee. Hold hearings. Let some tech CEO explain why regulation would hurt innovation. Pass nothing. Then act surprised when the robots own everything.
Obama's timing is impeccable. AI companies have already raised hundreds of billions of dollars. The models are deployed. The infrastructure is built. The horse left the barn, burned down three neighboring farms, and is now running for Congress. But sure, let's tackle it now.
Retail traders are thrilled by this news. They think it means AI stocks will go up because Washington is paying attention. They're wrong. It means nothing. Obama could urge Democrats to tackle a ham sandwich and the market would move exactly the same amount: zero.
The NYT published this like it's breaking news. Former president has opinion about technology. Shares opinion with newspaper. Newspaper prints opinion. Subscribers nod thoughtfully. Portfolio values remain unchanged.
Here's what tackling AI looks like in practice: a bill that defines AI as "any computational system that processes data." A provision that exempts any company with a lobbying budget over ten million dollars. A enforcement mechanism staffed by three people who have to regulate six thousand companies. And a sunset clause that kills the whole thing in eighteen months.
Obama voiced caution the way I voice caution about eating gas station sushi: clearly, loudly, and far too late to help anyone already in the bathroom.
Photo by Brecht Corbeel on Unsplash
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