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September 9, 2024

California’s SB 1047 Moves Closer to Changing the AI Landscape

Last week, the California State Assembly passed SB 1047, a controversial AI safety bill that supporters contend would regulate advanced AI models to reduce the possibility of AI going haywire and posing a serious threat to people. Formally titled the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, SB 1047 now heads to Gov….

By Will Rinehart

September 6, 2024

The UK’s AI Policy Pivot: From Global AI Safety Leader to Domestic AI Adopter?

Is the new United Kingdom’s government leadership stepping back from the country’s recently acquired position as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) safety regulation? Announcements this past week show a shift in priorities around AI that comes just months after the UK hosted the groundbreaking AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November 2023 positioning the UK at…

By Shane Tews

September 6, 2024

Social and Physical Theories of Technological Stagnation

Among those who believe that technological change has stagnated, there are two broad categories. One social/institutional theory of stagnation, often associated with Peter Thiel, claims that the world has entered a period of technological stagnation due to avoidable social and institutional factors. Thiel and others in this camp argue that societies have chosen safety, regulation,…

By Lynne Kiesling

September 5, 2024

Telegram CEO Arrest and Brazil’s X Ban Raise Free Speech and Privacy Concerns

Last week, global headlines spotlighted two separate flashpoints in the battle by governments to police social media networks. In Paris, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested for complicity in distribution of child sexual abuse imagery. And in Brazil, a judge banned X (formerly Twitter) nationwide after the company refused to block certain users on the eve of…

By Daniel Lyons

September 4, 2024

Compelling Speech, Compelling Censorship: California’s Misguided Effort to Protect Minors

Safeguarding minors online is essential, but figuring out how to shield them from lawful yet allegedly harmful content in ways that don’t violate the First Amendment isn’t easy for legislators fixated on regulating businesses. How, after all, does one define (and prove) what speech is “harmful” and craft a narrowly tailored statute that burdens no more speech than is…

By Clay Calvert

September 3, 2024

How Testosterone and Culture Shape Behavior

In this TED Talk, evolutionary biologist and AEI nonresident fellow Carole K. Hooven delves into how testosterone impacts the body and brain, interacting with culture to create differences in human behavior — starting with why boys tend to prefer rougher play than girls.

By Carole Hooven

September 2, 2024

The Potential Risks to the Tech Industry from Kamala Harris’s Economic Plan

Vice President Kamala Harris recently unveiled an economic plan centered on price controls, wage hikes, and subsidies. While the tech industry is not specifically targeted in her proposals, the broader economic ramifications could spell trouble for the sector. Harris’s price controls, covering essentials like food, medicine, and housing, echo the failed attempts of the past, such as Richard Nixon’s…

By Mark Jamison

September 2, 2024

Your Autonomous Vehicle Ride Might Take a While

For a time, when I wanted to make a point that AI hype was overblown, I would just cite Elon Musk’s various predictions about autonomous vehicles (AV).  In 2013, Musk predicted that by 2016 Tesla would be making self-driving cars. In 2016, the company unveiled a demonstration video in which a Tesla Model X seemed to be driving itself,…

By Will Rinehart

August 30, 2024

Zuckerberg’s Letter to Jordan: Headline Grabbing, Legally Insignificant

The dust is settling from this week’s headline-grabbing release of Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in which Meta’s CEO called “wrong” repeated pressure by Biden administration officials to have Facebook “censor certain COVID-19 content.” Zuckerberg also expressed “regret that we were not more outspoken about it” and lamented making “some choices” that “we wouldn’t make today.”…

By Clay Calvert

August 30, 2024

Data Center Electricity Use V: Implications

Yesterday’s earnings announcement from Nvidia brings my data center electricity use series full circle: Its now-dominant data center segment increased revenue to $26.3 billion—more than 2½ times what that business generated a year earlier. Adjusted operating income for the quarter more than doubled year over year to $19.9 billion. Nvidia’s overall top and bottom lines beat Wall…

By Lynne Kiesling