First of all, thank you for your effort. I really think it makes a difference, and I admire your integrity and stamina.
The elephant in the room: The US is currently textbook pre-fascist, even though it might not feel that bad. The massive spending on ICE is not just for legal deportations. The midterms will not be fair. Trump (or his successor, should he die) will not leave office voluntarily.
AI is a dual-use technology of national importance. The administration would not leave it to chance whether it had full access to frontier models. They made an offer in public and enforced it in private. Even in more peaceful, more democratic times, state agencies had ways to get around any restriction if it was really necessary.
There might have been some soft persuasion, too: sharing classified intelligence about what China is cooking, painting disheartening but convincing scenarios that all included Trump getting what he wants. In the end, it doesn’t matter—the people you talked to don’t have the agency you asked them for. Not defending them—we cannot allow civil society to cave in --, but I wouldn’t underestimate the levers that are at work here.
Epistemic status: I think it’s more plausible than a bunch of commendable people suddenly learning to love the bomb killer drones. Sorry if this comment is depressing. :(
First of all, thank you for your effort. I really think it makes a difference, and I admire your integrity and stamina.
The elephant in the room: The US is currently textbook pre-fascist, even though it might not feel that bad. The massive spending on ICE is not just for legal deportations. The midterms will not be fair. Trump (or his successor, should he die) will not leave office voluntarily.
AI is a dual-use technology of national importance. The administration would not leave it to chance whether it had full access to frontier models. They made an offer in public and enforced it in private. Even in more peaceful, more democratic times, state agencies had ways to get around any restriction if it was really necessary.
There might have been some soft persuasion, too: sharing classified intelligence about what China is cooking, painting disheartening but convincing scenarios that all included Trump getting what he wants. In the end, it doesn’t matter—the people you talked to don’t have the agency you asked them for. Not defending them—we cannot allow civil society to cave in --, but I wouldn’t underestimate the levers that are at work here.
Epistemic status: I think it’s more plausible than a bunch of commendable people suddenly learning to love the
bombkiller drones. Sorry if this comment is depressing. :(