The Importance of Watching Sam Altman

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The idea of licensing capture or regulatory capture, I know it's being discussed in circles in Silicon Valley. People are really worried that by going to Washington, Sam Altman is basically trying to convince the government that OpenAI is the sort of good, above-board regulatory, compliant AI creator. "I was actually surprised listening to the hearing like, Corey Booker of New Jersey kept calling him Sam," he says.

In a congressional hearing this week, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, appeared to be on the same page as lawmakers: It’s time to regulate A.I. But like so many other proposals to regulate tech, will it actually happen? The Times’s technology reporter Cecilia Kang helps us understand whether Congress will actually act, and what that could look like.

Then, Casey talks with Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, before and after Elon Musk took over the company.

On today’s episode:

Cecilia Kang is a reporter at The New York Times covering technology and regulation.
Yoel Roth is the former head of trust and safety at Twitter.

Additional reading:

Sam Altman urged Congress to pass legislation to regulate A.I., including the proposal that A.I. developers should be required to get licenses from the U.S. government to release their models.
Casey Newton reported for This American Life on Roth’s time at Twitter, before and after Musk took over.