The open letter warns about artificial intelligence and should also apply to cryptocurrencies

Both AI and cryptocurrencies move at breakneck speed and are deeply technical, making them difficult to regulate, but whistleblowers are silenced.

Another week and another warning about AI.

But this open letter – express fears that it could exacerbate inequalities, fuel misinformation and lead to uncontrollable situations TO THE systems that “potentially cause human extinction” strike differently.

Why? Because four of the anonymous signatories are current employees of OpenAIthe creator of the very popular ChatGPT. Six others worked there.

The fact that so many people involved in bringing AI to the masses fear for the future is significant. While they believe this still-nascent technology could offer “unprecedented benefits” to humanity, they fear the public – and regulators – don’t have the full picture.

“AI companies possess substantial non-public information about the capabilities and limitations of their systems, the adequacy of their protection measures, and the risk levels of different types of harm. However, they currently have only limited obligations to share some of this information with governments and none with civil society. We don’t think you can rely on everyone sharing it voluntarily.”

Right to Notify

The parallels between artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency the space is quite bare. Both industries move at breakneck speed and are deeply technical. This creates huge obstacles for both governments and regulators. For one thing, some politicians may find it difficult to understand the issue itself. Just ask U.S. Representative Brad Sherman, who infamously referred to Bitcoin’s creator as “Saratoshi Nagamoto.”

From here, it becomes difficult to prepare literate laws that encourage innovation among the good actors and at the same time discourage crime among the bad ones. And when authorities do catch up, such industries are often so unrecognizable that the legislation on the table fails to reflect the reality of how the technology is used… and where the greatest risks lie. Significantly, there is still significant regulatory paralysis around cryptocurrencies in the United States, more than 15 years later Bitcoin launched for the first time.

As the AI-focused open letter points out, the lack of effective government oversight means there is a huge reliance on whistleblowers within companies to hold them accountable. One of the authors’ biggest concerns is how confidentiality agreements prevent them from speaking openly.

“Ordinary whistleblower protections are insufficient because they focus on illegal activity, while many of the risks we are concerned about are still unregulated. Some of us reasonably fear various forms of retaliation.“

Right to Notify

Here too, there is a symmetry between artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, as highlighted by a recent, in-depth and damning report published by an independent examiner appointed to investigate those of FTX implosion in 2022. In that case, it was discovered that six anonymous whistleblowers with legitimate concerns were paid to the tune of $25 million. One was told to apologize now in prison CEO Sam Bankman Friedand ultimately reached a settlement for $16 million after stepping down from their roles.

While the cryptocurrency industry has made great strides in correcting past mistakes following a series of failures in recent years – BlockFi, Traveler AND Centigrade among these, it could be argued that there is still much work to be done. And that makes the four commitments requested of AI companies in this open letter particularly applicable to the digital assets sector.

There is a call for major AI companies to refrain from enforcing clauses that ban critics from serving employees concerned about emerging risks – and to introduce anonymous procedures so concerns can be raised to boards, regulators and experts. Some of the biggest cryptocurrency controversies could have been avoided if similar safeguards had been in place.

And beyond embracing a culture of open criticism, there is a call for AI industry leaders to promise that they will not retaliate against workers who release classified information after exhausting all other avenues to exacerbate a problem.

It’s unclear how much this open letter will shift the needle in efforts to regulate AI. And there is something to be said for the inherent transparency of blockchain technology, where the flow of funds – and transaction records – can be monitored in real time. Large language models, typically built behind closed doors, are much more opaque by comparison.

But the consequences of failure to act and the potential harms that everyday consumers face are equally dire in both sectors. Too many cryptocurrency investors have lost their life savings because they were not adequately informed of the risks, with a lack of coordination among international regulators to prevent offshore bad actors from going unchecked. And as AI becomes smarter and more user-friendly every day, the livelihoods of millions of hard-working people could now also be put in jeopardy.

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