Colin’s note: As I’ve been warning you, Washington wants to regulate artificial intelligence (“AI”). It says it’s doing this in the name of “safety” and “security.” But as you’ll see today, something very different is going on.
I don’t want you to get sucked into the fearmongering. So, last night, I sat down and recorded a short video all about it from my home office.
What are the consequences of overzealous AI regulation? And who does it really benefit? Click on the video below to find out. Or, if you prefer, you can read the transcript, edited for flow.
And as always, you can send your feedback on the ideas I share with you in these pages to feedback@brownstoneresearch.com.
The president is losing control.
Rather than taking charge from the Oval Office and working with elected lawmakers, it seems Joe Biden is more often in the shadows… shielded by a legion of staff and donors…
And aided by a media that rarely poses a challenging question or publishes a meaningful headline.
Coincidence?
Of course not.
Consider last week’s situation – an executive order on artificial intelligence came straight from the White House.
The document contained nearly 20,000 words.
Has Joe Biden even uttered 20,000 words during his entire presidency?
But here’s where it gets peculiar… the level of detail.
The document mentioned “floating-point operations per second,” or FLOPS, not once or twice, but at least seven times.
[Think of a FLOP as a speedometer for a computer. The more FLOPS, the faster the computer.]
It gave authority to not just one or two government agencies… but to 29 of them.
Meanwhile, the White House sent Vice President Kamala Harris to the U.S. Embassy in London.
What’s her mission?
To rally world leaders against the supposed threats that AI poses to human rights and democratic values.
These threats, she said, without question, are profound, and they demand global action.
But one has to wonder …
What’s going on here?
Why such an intense focus on fear? What has AI done that has caused this fear?
What are the profound threats the vice president is referring to?
Why the urgency?
Remember, this isn’t this administration’s first attempt to pump the brakes on AI’s progress.
Last year, before ChatGPT even hit the headlines, the White House clamped down on an array of semiconductor equipment being exported to China.
Again, this was before ChatGPT was even released and became a public phenomenon.
At the time, few people even knew what AI was… and the White House was already restricting access to the technology.
And we’re not just talking about Nvidia’s top-tier computer chips.
This went several layers deeper. The restrictions targeted lithography equipment and other machinery crucial for creating AI chips.
Once more, how was this done?
Not through a legislative process, not through open debate in Congress.
It was another directive straight from the White House.
Bypassing the democratic process. Bypassing the American people.
Bypassing you.
What does this pattern tell us about how this administration prefers to operate?
More important, why does this administration move so quickly to halt the progress of AI?
You’ve got to dive into this discussion with one key assumption already in place…
That AI demands immediate and forceful regulation.
That you have to fear AI is a threat to this nation.
So immediate is the fear and danger of AI that we must bypass the usual checks and balances of our democratic process.
Whether you’re for rapid advancement or total elimination of AI, your personal stance is secondary.
But here’s the real question we should be asking …
Are we genuinely facing such an immediate existential threat from AI that the only solution is to sidestep the democratic process?
One where 29 government agencies crawling with unelected bureaucrats decide what the future of AI becomes.
One where a 20,000-word executive order is pushed out… granting overarching authority to Washington elites you didn’t vote for?
What’s the immediate threat AI presents to our nation?
China can already pass a spy balloon into our air space. Hack our computer systems.
And let’s not forget… unleash a worldwide pandemic.
AI has widely been available for about a year now.
Why does this administration place such an urgent focus on regulating AI now?
This isn’t just me saying this.
At the top of Joe Biden’s executive order, it says…
My Administration places the highest urgency on governing the development and use of AI.
We’ve seen how these same elites have handled the spending of our tax dollars, our free speech, our Second Amendment rights, and our economy.
These same elites shut down our children’s schools and closed our small businesses. They forced mask and vaccine mandates on us during the pandemic.
Now, they want us to trust them with a technology that Goldman Sachs says will add $7 trillion to the global economy.
The question is, should we?
And maybe the better question is, why should we?
Why did the Washington power players clamp down on AI access even before ChatGPT became a global sensation?
What did they know that we didn’t?
And now, they’re peddling this narrative that AI is some kind of existential threat.
Threatening our country, our democracy, and our way of life.
You have to ask yourself…
What’s the real agenda behind this fearmongering?
What are they trying to distract us from or, perhaps more importantly, what are they trying to control?
Let’s just cut to the chase.
Here’s the truth they won’t tell you…
AI isn’t the enemy of the common American.
Instead, it’s a threat to a system rigged in favor of the wealthy, the powerful, and the well-connected.
It’s the Washington elites who are shaking in their boots.
Why?
AI levels the playing field in a way we’ve never witnessed.
Suddenly, a high school dropout can access the same breadth of knowledge as an Ivy League grad.
A kid from one of America’s many failing school districts can now tap into the kind of education that was once exclusive to others.
With AI, the playing field is being leveled.
Advanced knowledge and learning aren’t just for the privileged few anymore; they’re accessible to everyone, everywhere, anytime.
What does this mean for the future of our education system and those who’ve always controlled it?
What happens when knowledge is democratized?
The general public now holds the key to an information source that can strip away layers of bias.
Think about it: A computer system, steeped in facts and knowledge, can cut through the noise and reveal the raw truth.
It can tell us the actual effectiveness of masks in preventing disease spread.
It can shed light on whether we should be teaching kindergarteners about gender identity.
It can even clarify the debate on climate change – is it an undeniable reality or just another theory?
This is the kind of unfiltered truth that AI can bring to the table, truths that some in power might not want uncovered.
It’s not just about technology; it’s about power.
And who loses power when knowledge is democratized?
Exactly those who’ve held it too tightly for too long.
Regards,
Colin Tedards
Editor, The Bleeding Edge
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
