5 questions for Paul Barrett

How the next wave of technology is upending the global economy and its power structures

Jul 14, 2023 View in browser   By Derek Robertson Paul Barrett. Hello, and welcome to this week’s installment of our regular feature The Future In Five Questions. This week I interviewed Paul Barrett, the deputy director of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, and the author of a report published last month on “Safeguarding AI: Addressing the Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence” in which he brings his decades of expertise studying the intersection of big business, tech, and the public trust on generative AI. We talked about what the FTC can do to protect consumers in the age of generative artificial intelligence, the (at least near-term) folly of driverless cars, and why the metaverse is underrated. Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity: What’s one underrated big idea? I think that as a result of all the hype surrounding generative AI, many people have forgotten about 3D immersive technology. Some version, or versions, of the metaverse are on the way and will be hugely influential. A lot of what we now think of as social media will be moving to 3D. We already have one application that's pretty popular — gaming. That’s a harbinger, although I don’t think it’s an easy leap to transfer the gaming experience to the rest of life. 3D is obviously appealing if what you're doing is chasing around other avatars and trying to chop off their heads, or whatever. Still, I think gaming does provide a proof of concept, that it can work and it can be very engaging. What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? Driverless cars. Consumers are simply not going to get comfortable anytime soon with autonomous automobiles. What book most shaped your conception of the future? “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder. Snyder's analysis of how autocratic movements gain power, in part by eroding people's trust in each other and in public institutions, points to the continuing dangers facing democracies in the U.S. and around the world. What could the government be doing regarding tech that it isn’t? The first step for the government is to enhance the consumer protection authority of the Federal Trade Commission and make it clear that the commission can require greater transparency from digital companies, and give it resources to actually execute on this, and impose certain procedural requirements for them to follow through on the promises that they make to consumers. That's a very well-established area of authority for the FTC, and I think it would be a good foundation from which the government more generally could extend oversight that now is lacking when it comes to digital companies of all sorts, whether it's social media companies or AI companies or anything else. What has surprised you most this year? The speed and degree of fervor of the attention to generative AI in just the last five or six months. AI has been around for a long time and in all kinds of applications, both routine and controversial. But I think the introduction of this latest flavor of AI has shown people just how profound the changes are that this technology could impose on all aspects of business and society at large.   JOIN 7/11 FOR A TALK ON THE FAA’S FUTURE: Congress is making moves to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act, laying the groundwork for the FAA’s long-term agenda to modernize the aviation sector to meet the challenges of today and innovate for tomorrow. Join POLITICO on July 11 to discuss what will make it into the final reauthorization bill and examine how reauthorization will reshape FAA’s priorities and authorities. REGISTER HERE.     crypto catch-up It’s been a busy week for crypto news, and POLITICO’s Morning Money has the round-up for those who might not be following the latest developments on the Hill that will shape the future of blockchain. MM notes that a federal judge checked the Securities and Exchange Commission’s attempt to exert authority over crypto platform Ripple, which our Declan Harty reported on for Pro subscribers, the arrest of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, and a POLITICO Pro scoop that Republicans are making a major ploy to gain bipartisan support for a stablecoin bill in the house. Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, a senior committee Democrat, told MM he’s “feeling good about stablecoins” and that the committee has “made tremendous progress there.” And meanwhile, House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) told POLITICO’s Eleanor Mueller he wants a vote before Congress’ August recess on a bill that would give the CFTC new authority over crypto. — Derek Robertson ai in the metaverse Could the dawn of powerful generative AI make it even more important to set governance rules in the metaverse? The Brookings Institution’s Tom Wheeler, a former Federal Communications Commission chair, made the case in a lengthy essay published yesterday, arguing that if regulators don’t act now, they risk forfeiting users’ data privacy to big tech companies in much the same way they did during the social media era. “The metaverse is a creature of AI in that much of what happens in the metaverse is determined by AI algorithms,” Wheeler writes. “The metaverse is an immersive experience in which real-world people, problems, and patterns come to life in an AI-defined and AI-driven world… The online challenges with which we wrestle today, such as privacy, competition, and misinformation, will be supercharged by [its] intrusive, immersive, individually identifiable, and manipulative nature.” Breaking down the numerous novel privacy issues posed by sophisticated AI-driven data generation and collection in the metaverse, Wheeler proposes a regulatory framework that includes international governance, strict oversight and expectation-setting for the companies that build that world, and “a new federal agency and a new regulatory paradigm” that mimics the management practices of big tech companies themselves. — Derek Robertson Tweet of the Day the future in 5 links Is the new Turing Test to determine whether AI can make itself $1 million? EV companies are trying to protect their chargers from cyberattacks. A 19-year-old dropout is raising VC money to “replace gunpowder.” What does AI panic have in common with that of the atomic age? AI writing detectors say the U.S. Constitution was actually written by AI. Stay in touch with the whole team: Ben Schreckinger (bschreckinger@politico.com); Derek Robertson (drobertson@politico.com); Mohar Chatterjee (mchatterjee@politico.com); and Steve Heuser (sheuser@politico.com). Follow us @DigitalFuture on Twitter. If you’ve had this newsletter forwarded to you, you can sign up and read our mission statement at the links provided.   SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.       Follow us on Twitter Ben Schreckinger @SchreckReports Derek Robertson @afternoondelete Steve Heuser @sfheuser   Follow us

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