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There’s a saying: “Fool me just once and shame on you.”
In retrospect, nothing better encapsulates the experiment that technology companies have conducted on humanity with social media. Products like Facebook and Twitter, first introduced to the public more than a decade ago, offered incredible possibilities to find long-lost friends and instantly connect with anyone in the world.
But those who were optimistic about the potential of social media were soon faced with the horrors this technology brought. Democracy is weakened by disinformation that spreads like wildfire online. Civil wars have broken out on social media platforms all over the world.
So if social media is causing so many problems, why hasn’t the government regulated it?
For years, leaders from Meta, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have voiced calls for internet regulation. In retrospect, there was malicious intent behind these efforts, as some of the richest corporations in human history waged massive lobbying efforts to ensure that social media remained a lawless territory. I understand this.
Like the tobacco industry a generation ago, tech companies have used every available tool behind the scenes to fight new laws that demand some form of accountability. Big tech lobbying groups are pouring resources into challenging California’s landmark child online safety law in federal court, where a misinformed judge last year ruled had issued a meager preliminary injunction.
I know the strategies these companies have used often. Before my current job, I was a lobbyist for Amazon.I had the same argument – we support regulation, we don’t. this There is a notable lack of regulation and viable alternatives as well.
Having been on the inside once, I can say this with confidence. Tech companies are fooling us all.
Now, these same tech giants are driving their latest innovation: artificial intelligence. Just like with social media, we are in a race to scale up as quickly as possible and irrevocably engulf society with these new products in order to achieve market dominance.
Worse, AI could have far more serious consequences than social media.
• Two billion people across 50 countries will vote in this year’s elections, but we still have no answers to the combination of disinformation, social media, and generated AI content.
• The release of open source AI models is accelerating a global arms race, but the technology is already empowering fraudsters and sexual predators, and could soon also empower terrorists. There is.
• Actors, writers, journalists, and other creators continue to have their work plagiarized for profit by the same companies without their consent or compensation.
All of this reminds me of the second part of that famous saying. “Fool me twice, shame on you.”
In fact, it’s a shame for all of us to allow Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft to fool us again – this time with AI.
For too long, elected leaders at all levels of government have given these companies the benefit of the doubt. Lawmakers can no longer accept the word of the tech industry when there is no basis for trust in the lobbyist army that claims it should not be overseen and held accountable.
The ultimate test of the integrity of these companies is their willingness to accept responsibility for the harm their products have created or may create. Rather than listening to the claims of corporations and lobbyists, lawmakers need to move forward with regulations that hold companies accountable for the products they make. Vermont is showing the way, as evidenced by its recently introduced AI liability bill.
It could start right here in California. Many tech giants were born in California and still call it home. Lawmakers must not be fooled by their tactics again, and instead rely on voters who are overwhelmingly concerned about the dangers AI poses to democracy and are demanding transparency and accountability from these tech giants. Concerns should be listened to.
It’s time to show big tech companies that they can no longer fool us.
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