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Goodguy  7hr ago (text post)   Edited 4hr ago   3345 thread views

Midterms Megathread

Cause otherwise midterms discussion will be scattered around a bunch of separate Culture War thread posts. And it's nice to have more off-the-cuff rapid reactions in a dedicated megathread.

The first thing I've noticed so far: if the exit polls are correct, Americans are very pessimistic about AI.

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Hot damn. I overindexed on the opinions of this place and didn't believe the polls. What a pleasant surprise.

So, any predictions on what positive things will happen as a result of these elections?

Yes, the Republicans will reorganize and be ready for national level elections in 2036. Hopefully there is a country still existing and fixable by then.

I guess it's important to hang on to hope, but after watching Republican rank and file steamroll the establishment through Trump, only to end up with standard neocon rule at the end of it, leaves me feeling rather deflated.

Yeah, you said it.

Oh, another positive thing is that no US president will seriously consider messing with Iran for the next few decades at least. This is a positive thing, for Iran!

It's more likely we will get meaningful federal AI regulations, though likely two parts datacenter water regulation for every one part meaningful.

what does "meaningful federal AI regulations" look like, leaving aside the water parts?

I’m more curious to know how these regulatory mechanisms will be enforced. Because without that, these are all just declarations, not regulations or treaties.

What would be an example of meaningful AI regulations?

E.g. from Scott Wiener (likely replacing Pelosi) and his SB 1047:

  • Mandatory safety classifiers
  • Mandatory predeployment assessments
  • Kill switch
  • Whistleblower protections
  • Compute KYC

Just a start (and Newsom vetoed it), but it can be the basis for future legislation as AI continues to rise in salience.

Half of them sound like a horrible dystopian nightmare, but I suppose that does make them meaningful!

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