By Joe Brock
AUSTIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Joe Lonsdale, an investor in Anthropic and the co-founder of technology company Palantir, said on Friday that efforts by some leading artificial intelligence companies to warn of existential risks from AI amounted to a dangerous attempt to shape public policy.
Lonsdale, also founder of venture capital firm 8VC, criticized what he described as efforts by people close to Anthropic and at OpenAI to fund outside groups advocating stronger AI regulation, which he argued could help a small number of leading companies shape the rules governing the industry and entrench their market power.
“I think that what OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing right now is very dangerous, and we don’t want an oligopoly that controls all of our policy here with the government,” Lonsdale said at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin event.
“Safety is a real thing, but fear and regulation — we’ve got to be really careful how we respond to those things.”
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who heads SpaceX, have all this month called for leading AI companies to slow the pace of development of their most advanced models, warning that increasingly powerful systems could pose existential risks to humanity if safeguards fail to keep pace.
Lonsdale, 44, tempered his criticism with praise for Amodei and Anthropic, in which he is a small investor, saying the company had assembled exceptional talent and emerged as a leader in the AI race.
“It’s very hard for anyone to second-guess the highest-performing company in the world over the last few years,” Lonsdale said. “I’m proud to be an investor in Anthropic.”
POTENTIAL UKRAINIAN DEALS
Lonsdale, who has backed defense technology firms including Anduril, said some of these companies will likely buy some Ukrainian defense companies.
Ukrainian drone and defense technology firms had made rapid advances by continuously adapting battlefield systems during Russia’s more than four year war, he said, adding that he sees opportunities for deeper partnerships and potential acquisitions.
“We’re partnering very closely with them. A lot of our companies work with their companies,” Lonsdale said. “A lot of our companies are likely to buy some of the companies over there.”
AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS AND DEFENSE
Lonsdale said that while AI-powered autonomous weapons are the future of warfare, accountability must remain with military leaders.
The issue has taken on greater urgency in Ukraine, where drones and increasingly automated systems are central to combat.
It was also highlighted in the US-Iran war early this year, when a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, killed more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials. Reuters reported that a preliminary US military investigation found US forces were likely responsible, and pointed to outdated intelligence used in the targeting process.
“There’s always a person responsible who is in charge of whatever system they studied, worked on and approved,” Lonsdale said. “It’s very easy from the outside to judge these things when you’re not there in the fog of war.”
PENTAGON SHAKEUP
Lonsdale has been mentioned in recent months as a potential candidate for a senior Pentagon leadership role. Asked whether he would serve if asked, he said his priority was his family and businesses.
“Obviously, if a President calls you and asks something of you, you should consider it. But my focus right now is on building my businesses and my community.”
The Pentagon has faced significant leadership turmoil recently, with several high-profile departures among its senior ranks. Reuters reported this month that the White House had reviewed potential replacements for Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg.
(Reporting by Joe Brock in Austin and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )
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