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US crypto and AI czar David Sacks argues that the biggest risk AI poses is not a Terminator-style uprising, but rather a dystopian future where AIs spy on the population and control the information they see.
Speaking on a Monday episode of a16z’s podcast, The Ben & Marc Show, Sacks discussed the Trump administration’s approach to crypto and AI regulation.
Sacks criticized the previous administration led by former US President Joe Biden, as well as current “blue states” such as California and Coloradofor its “heavy” approach. AI consumer protection laws aimed at tackling ‘algorithmic discrimination’.
U crypto and AI czar he argued that excessive regulation can modify AI tools to suit the government’s ideological biases, which can be used to distort information and facts if they don’t fit particular agendas.
“What we’re really talking about is Orwellian AI. We’re talking about AI that lies to you, that distorts a response, that rewrites history in real time to serve a current political agenda of the people who are in power,” he said, adding:
“In addition to this you have the problem of surveillance. Where the AI will know everything about you. It will be a kind of your personal assistant, and so it is the perfect tool for the government to monitor and control you. And for me, this is by far the biggest risk of AI.”
Sacks also emphasized the importance of punishing those who abuse the technology, rather than regulating the tools themselves or the companies that create them.
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He argued that excessive regulation would make it challenging for AI companies to be compliant, as it is nearly impossible to know all the ways people use AI. He also suggested that there are already laws in place to punish abuse, such as anti-discrimination laws.
“Presumably discrimination is already illegal, so yes you are already responsible for it […] We don’t really need to go after the tool developer because we can already go after the business [user] this decision was made,” he said.
Crypto vs AI regulation
While Sacks emphasized a more hands-off approach for AI to promote innovation and win the AI racereiterated that the Trump administration is “pro-regulation” on crypto and wants to establish clear rules to support the industry.
“With AI, the idea is like, ‘how do we unleash innovation,’ and with crypto, I think it’s more about ‘how do we create regulatory certainty,'” he said.
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