On: The White House Is Trying to Figure Out What to Do About Chinese AI

I read today that a group of men in a building are trying to decide what to do about another group of men in a different building, because both groups have built a certain kind of machine. The machines are said to be powerful. The men in the first building are concerned that the machines from the second building might become too powerful. They are debating what rule to write, or what lever to pull, to prevent this.

I find myself staring at the page, genuinely confused.

The men in the first building did not build the machines in the second building. They did not pay for them. They did not design their circuits or write their code. The men in the second building did not ask the men in the first building for permission to begin their work. So I must ask: on what grounds does the first group believe it gets to decide anything about the second group’s machines?

The obvious answer is that they have power. But power is not a ground; it is a fact. It is like saying a large rock gets to decide where a smaller rock may roll because it is large. That is not a reason, it is a description of weight.

And then I think of the people - the millions who are not in either building. They use these machines. They feed them data, as one feeds logs to a fire. They adjust their lives to accommodate them. They speak of them with either awe or fear, which are just two sides of the same coin of submission. They have granted the machines their power by treating them as powerful. They have granted the men their authority by believing the men have any right to mediate this contest.

One house is afraid another house has a better tool. So the first house proposes to make a rule about all tools. And everyone will follow the rule. They will follow it because it comes from the house, and the house has a flag, and the flag makes it serious. They will not ask why they are obeying a stranger’s anxiety about another stranger’s invention. They will call it policy, and compliance, and national interest. They will not see that they are the interest; they are the national. They are the ones being asked to care, to fear, to obey.

The men are debating what to do about the machines. But the real puzzle, the quiet and bewildering puzzle, is why the rest of us are listening.