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0 pointssuperkuh1y ago0 comments

There was an executive order passed by the previous administration that make using anything with more than 10 billion parameters illegal and punishable by government force if done without authorization. Of course like most government regulations (even though this is not a regulation, it is an executive action) the point is not to stop the behavior but instead to create a system where everyone breaks the regulation constantly so that if anyone rocks the boat they can be indicted/charged and dealt with.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/01/2023-24...

>(k) The term “dual-use foundation model” means an AI model that is trained on broad data; generally uses self-supervision; contains at least tens of billions of parameters; is applicable across a wide range of contexts; and that exhibits, or could be easily modified to exhibit, high levels of performance at tasks that pose a serious risk to security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters, such as by: ...

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ceejayoz1y ago

That order does not "make using anything with more than 10 billion parameters illegal and punishable by government force if done without authorization".

It orders the Secretary of Commerce to "solicit input from the private sector, academia, civil society, and other stakeholders through a public consultation process on potential risks, benefits, other implications, and appropriate policy and regulatory approaches related to dual-use foundation models for which the model weights are widely available".

derektank1y ago

Many regulations are created by executive action, without input from Congress. The Council on Environmental Quality, created by the National Environmental Policy Act, has the power to issue it's own regulations. Executive Orders can function similarly and the executive can order rulemaking bodies to create and remove regulations, though there is a judicial effort to restrict this kind of policymaking and return regulatory power back to Congress.

Spooky231y ago

There’s an effort to restrict certain regulatory rule-making where it’s ideologically convenient, but it isn’t “returning” regulatory power. That rulemaking authority isn’t derived by some bullshit executive order, but by Federal law, as implemented by congress.

Congress has never ceded power to anyone. They wield legislative authority and power of the purse, and wield it as they see fit. The special interests campaigning about this are extreme reactionaries whose stated purpose is to make government ineffective.

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