AI and the Public Interest
On November 15, 2023, Open Markets Institute and AI Now Institute convened leading experts from the United States and Europe for a wide-ranging discussion about the promise, threats, and regulatory challenges of large-scale artificial intelligence (AI).
Two short days after our event, AI topped headlines after OpenAI’s board fired then later reinstated its CEO, Sam Altman. One of our event panelists, New York Times columnist Julia Angwin wrote that the “ultimate coup” (referencing Altman’s initial ouster), would be “taking back the power of computation on behalf of the public,” and cited a new Open Markets report on how to do it: “AI in the Public Interest: Confronting the Monopoly Threat.” Also see Courtney Radsch’s piece in The Guardian, “The real story of the OpenAI debacle is the tyranny of big tech.”
Watch the day’s panel discussions, interviews and keynotes below:
Landscape Discussion #1: AI Is a Monopoly Problem
To start the day, Sarah Myers West, Managing Director at AI Now Institute, and Max von Thun, Europe Director for Open Markets Institute provided overviews of the chokepoints in the AI Supply Chain/Tech Stack.
Max von Thun shared the findings from a new Open Markets report, which details how just a handful of Big Tech companies – by exploiting existing monopoly power and aggressively co-opting other actors – have already positioned themselves to control the future of artificial intelligence and exacerbate many of the problems of the digital age.
Event partner Sarah Myers West shared similar reporting from AI Now: “Today’s AI boom is driven at its core by commercial surveillance…and shaped by a small handful of firms,” she cautioned.
Landscape Discussion #2: AI Controlled by Monopolies is a Threat to Democracy & Free Thought
Our second discussion covered the ways in which monopoly control over AI threatens to exacerbate online disinformation, destruction of news, & the closing of civic space. It featured Nora Benavidez, Senior Counsel & Director of Digital Justice & Civil Rights for Free Press and Susan Benesch, Founder & Director of the Dangerous Speech Project. The discussion was moderated by Courtney Radsch, Director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute.
Landscape Discussion #3: Harms to Artists & Human Creativity - & Real Solutions
Moderated by Justin Hendrix, CEO & Editor of Tech Policy Press, our third landscape discussion covered concerns our panelists have on the effects of Generative AI to the artists and creative people of music and film industries. It featured Ashley Irwin, President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists, Liz Pelly, a freelance journalist specialized in the music industry, and Jen Jacobsen, Executive Director of the Artist Rights Alliance. Irwin concluded, and the others seemed to agree, that what is owed to artists in the AI era are consent, credit and compensation for the works they create and publish.
A Conversation with FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya
FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya spoke with Cristina Caffarra, University College London, about the elements of AI development he is keeping the closest eye on, including dominance over AI by existing monopolists. He noted that while it is extremely “important to have open access to the training data being used,” the big tech companies that control large foundation models are “becoming less and less transparent” with that data. He prioritizes potential harms by looking at which automated systems are most pervasive in the major decisions that impact people in significant ways, such as hiring and firing, fair wage and compensation, medical care and insurance, and more.
A Conversation with Doha Mekki - Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice Antitrust Division
Department of Justice Antitrust Division Principal Deputy Doha Mekki warned us to look out for Big Tech’s arguments that essentially say, ‘we welcome regulation, just not antitrust regulation.’ In an on-stage interview with FT Global Business Columnist Rana Foroohar, Mekki said we need to be smarter & more concerned about how companies are using data, particularly the proprietary kind. We couldn’t have said it better.
Keynote Address by Christy Hoffman, General Secretary, UNI Global Union
In her keynote remarks on AI & Work, Democracy, & Liberty, UNI Global Union head Christy Hoffman described why she views new technology through the lens of opportunity and progress, but stressed that fairness for workers with the advent of new technologies requires collective bargaining. Workers and their unions must have a seat at the table in navigating the impacts of AI.
Landscape Discussion #4: Competition Law & Enforcement - The Current State of Play
During this discussion, policy experts examined how we can apply existing law, such as competition laws in the U.S. and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe, to address known monopoly problems in AI. Andreas Schwab, Member of the European Parliament, European People's Party, Cristina Caffarra, Honorary Professor, University College London, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Director of the Center for Tech Responsibility, Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, and one of the authors of the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, weighed in. Moderated by Amba Kak, Executive Director of AI Now Institute.
Landscape Discussion #5: Industry Narratives to Avoid
This discussion examined industry narratives and how they’re shaping the AI conversation, and the narratives and debates we should be prioritizing to ensure AI develops in the public’s best interest. Featuring Tim Wu, Professor at Columbia Law School, former Special Assistant to the President for Technology & Competition Policy, Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, Laura Edelson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University and Co-Director of Cybersecurity for Democracy, and moderated by Sarah Myers West.
Landscape Discussion #6: The Manipulation Machine
“What we’re facing is a discrimination economy and AI is turbocharging that,” says Zephyr Teachout, Professor of Law at Fordham University and Special Advisor for Economic Justice to New York AG Letitia James. Big Tech companies have built their businesses around manipulation and discriminatory practices, which are illegal under U.S. antimonopoly law, this panel explained. To address existing ills and the ways in which they’re being exacerbated by AI, government must once again enforce anti-discrimination rules. Teachout, along with Julia Angwin, investigative journalist and contributing New York Times Opinion writer, Johnny Ryan, Senior Fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Open Markets Institute and Former Chief Policy Officer Brave Software, and Karina Montoya, Senior Reporter at the Center for Journalism and Liberty, Open Markets Institute, weigh in. Moderated by Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn.
Landscape Discussion #7: AI Power & Control – A Few Quick Fixes?
Our final panel of the day featured Ben Wiseman, Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Privacy & Identity Protection, Sarah Myers West, Max von Thun, and was moderated by Courtney Radsch, Director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets. Each speaker proposed “quick fixes” (and some, not so quick) to address the growing power and control of AI companies over society. From structural separation of AI companies and multi-cloud interoperability, to comprehensive privacy legislation in the U.S., to updated copyright and compensation frameworks, and more, this group of experts agreed on the need for a multi-pronged approach to curb the unchecked power of AI companies.
AI Now Executive Director Amba Kak closed the day appropriately: “Concentration of power analysis is crucial” to the world’s AI endeavors, she said. She is exactly right.