Now that we have some context on some potentially promising strategy and policy directions, we turn to focusing on what opportunities and challenges there will be in implementing these (or other) ideas. [26] A major aspect of that is the key players: the actors who will either directly make influential decisions, or shape the incentives of those who do. To learn about these actors, this week we will study the following types of non-governmental actors, whose decisions will plausibly matter greatly for the future of AI:
- AI companies, which are today’s leaders in AI development—directly making research, development, and deployment decisions, while also setting industry norms
- AI hardware companies and AI research communities, which provide resources (compute and research labor, respectively) that are critical for AI development
- Philanthropic foundations, which have a history of helping build political movements and research fields
We will study governments next week. We encourage readers to read with an eye toward identifying the powers, incentives, and constraints these actors have. [27]
Core Readings
Additional Recommendations
More on the politics of particular AI companies:
More on how corporate governance works:
More on semiconductors:
[26] That does not necessarily assume that we are confident about any particular strategy or policy direction; some aspects of implementation are widely relevant, and some aspects—such as feasibility—can help us decide among strategic directions.
[27] Some of the AI strategy & governance field effectively works on related questions—trying to better understand relevant organizations, often through dedicated service within them. Another research area of the field focuses on understanding the future politics of AI, although for tractability this week will focus on today’s AI politics.
