February 10, 2025
How Can We Develop AI That Helps, Rather Than Harms, People?
In every technological revolution, we face a choice: build for freedom or watch as others build for control. With AI the stakes couldn’t be higher. It already mediates 20 per cent of our waking hours through smartphones, automated systems, and digital interfaces. Soon it will touch nearly every aspect of human existence. While AI promises to liberate us for higher pursuits by “extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking,” history – from the iron cage of Soviet bureaucracy to modern Chinese surveillance – serves as a stark warning that automation can just as easily erode our freedoms and condition us to passively accept social control.
Today’s debate about AI’s future is dominated by competing visions of control. Doomsayers, like some of those at this week’s AI Action Summit in France, advocate for strict controls (even “pauses” on all development) that would forfeit progress while inviting tyranny.
Read the full article on The Spectator.
More from CNAS
-
Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure on DOE Lands
Commentary
Maintaining America’s lead in AI data centers is critical for U.S. AI dominance....
By Caleb Withers, Janet Egan & Spencer Michaels
-
Lessons in Learning
Reports
Executive Summary Although claims of a revolution in military affairs may be overhyped, the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy to change warfare is growin...
By Josh Wallin
-
Five Objectives to Guide U.S. AI Diffusion
Commentary
The Framework for AI Diffusion (the Framework) is an ambitious proposal to shape the global distribution of critical AI capabilities, maintain U.S. AI leadership, and prevent ...
By Janet Egan & Spencer Michaels
-
Shaping the World’s AI Future: How the U.S. and China Compete to Promote Their Digital Visions
Commentary
As the United States navigates evolving global AI competition, balancing these elements will be crucial in determining whose AI systems — and by extension, whose approaches, v...
By Keegan McBride
