Stuart Russell has published an important essay in The Guardian in response to the recent drama around whether we need to slow the pace of AI development. He responds to the essay by Dario Amodei on We Must Pace The Frontier.
We cannot set a slower rate of progress for capabilities and then hope that provides enough time to get the safety right. The safety requirements are non-negotiable. We must set the safety requirements first, and further progress occurs only when they are met.
He points out that pacing sounds like slowing down racing cars when there is an accident, but that is the wrong image. Instead he suggests we should think of a company introducing a new plane. We expect new planes to have passed all the relevant safety tests. Slowing down the introduction of new models is not enough.
What I find interesting is that there is little mention of the network of AI safety (or security) institutes. Starting with the Bletchley Summit in 2023 there was a loose international effort to develop AI safety capacity. In Canada we have the Canadian AI Safety Institute (I am on the Research Council.) It is part of what used to be called the International Network of AI Safety Institutes and since the Trump administration expressed concerns about “safety” has transitioned to being renamed the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement Evaluation and Science.
Trump has responded to concerns about the speed of development by asserting that “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” It remains to be seen whether a backlash in Congress that forces the US Administration’s hand.
Could we see some light weight form of nationalization or regulation? Will Canada introduce regulation similar to C-27 that died in 2025 when Parliament was prorogued?