Sam Altman’s argument in these pages that it is time for a “global framework” for AI reflects a stark reality. The technology he and his peers are creating has enormous destructive potential that spills beyond national borders. He is also right that the world has faced such challenges before. This new one, though, is harder to fix.
Altman’s idea sounds a lot like the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, applied to AI. He suggests a global forum of policymakers and experts that would set standards for AI models, watch to make sure the profit motive doesn’t trump safety, and grant compliant countries access to advanced technologies. As with Basel, enforcement and actual rule-setting would be done by individual countries, to avoid seeming undemocratic.
This might sound like a bratwurst crying out for a July 4 barbecue. After all, AI lobbyists have argued furiously, when confronted with US state-level legislation, that red tape chills innovation. In finance, too, banks grumble loudly about Basel, which lumbers them with huge compliance costs and can appear unduly fraught with complexity.