[cogman10]

> This is an ungenerous take

Why should I give a multi-billion dollar company advocating for new regulations in its industry a generous take?

I'd be similarly cynical if McDonald's proposed new health and safety regulations for restaurants.

[cloverich]

There is an important difference between criticism and cynicism.

[0xDEAFBEAD]

>I'd be similarly cynical if McDonald's proposed new health and safety regulations for restaurants.

"Because McDonald's wants food regulations, we can therefore conclude that all food regulations should be eliminated."

Obviously this would be rather silly.

It would be helpful to stop obsessing about McDonald's finances and simply discuss the best food regulation strategy. We just can't learn all that much about the best way to regulate food by making cynical proclamations about which food regulations will benefit the bottom line at McDonald's.

[cogman10]

> Obviously this would be rather silly.

Which is why it wasn't the point I was making. You did an uncharitable reading of my position and then did a straw man attack.

My position is that any food regulation the likes of McDonald proposes should be looked at in the most critical and cynical light possible. They aren't making such proposals for the general health of the public, but rather to improve their own bottom line.

My position is not and never was that "we should not regulate food".

> It would be helpful to stop obsessing about McDonald's finances and simply discuss the best food regulation strategy.

McDonald's uses their market position and wealth to directly lobby to government officials about food regulations. I worry about what McDonald's has to say about food because they have a VASTLY outsided ability to manipulate the regulatory system.

> We just can't learn all that much about the best way to regulate food by making cynical proclamations about which food regulations will benefit the bottom line at McDonald's.

We can call out ineffectual and blatently self serving calls for new regulations for what they are, McDonald's trying to use regulatory capture to increase their profits and hurt their competitors.

Back on topic, that's exactly the situation with open ai.

IMO, this isn't something that's regulatable because AI models are ephemeral data that's easy to copy and replicate. No amount of US regulations can stop China from sending their dangerous models to Iran. The only thing such draconian measures accomplishes is building a moat for the likes of anthropic to shrink the number of potential customers.

If we must push out laws around AI, then those laws should at least have some chance of success. I'm all in favor of criminalizing the use of AI in cyber attacks, scamming, etc. But that's a capability that is model agnostic.

Much like I'm in favor of health and safety checks on a restaurant but I think having a mandatory McDonald's built and sold food safety device in every restaurant would be nuts. It wouldn't make food healthier it'd only serve to benefit McDonald's bottom line.