An AI Petition: Like Europe in the 1500s?
August 7, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
How did innovation work in Europe in the 16th-century? Political inconsistency, some notable public disturbances, and people who were smart moving from place to place to avoid problems. How does innovation work in the 21st-century? Yep, political inconsistency, some notable public disturbances just with zeros and ones, and people who are smart moving around.
I read several of the write ups about workers at AI companies wanting the US government to slow down AI. The write ups are similar, and I selected one that struck me as representative. The write up is “OpenAI, Anthropic Employees Urge White House to Slow AI Race.” The publisher is Hans Inc., which operates from India.
Thanks, Venice.ai. You are working on July 29, 2026, and outputting good enough artistic gems.
The write up states:
more than 1,100 employees from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and many other leading tech companies have joined forces to sign a statement addressed to the U.S. government regarding this breakneck pace of development. The employees—including senior executives and co-founders—want the Trump administration to intervene in how the most advanced AI models are developed, possibly by establishing AI governance mechanisms. They fear that if the situation continues unchecked, AI could spiral out of control.
Okay, news flash. AI is not exactly a secret system. The technology is explained in free videos. Big time publishers output articles and books about AI. ArXiv may as well be called AIxiv because the flow of gray write ups is robust. I gave up trying to keep track of interesting (probably non reproducible) research a year ago.
The earnest people at Hans report:
researchers and scientists are concerned that if AI gains the ability to train itself, it could surpass our capacity for oversight. The problem, according to the researchers, is that companies are competing to create more advanced models, leaving little time to fully address risks and implement safety measures. “Every company—and every country—is under intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slowdown that acceleration. And today, the world lacks the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately regulate the pace of cutting-edge advances in this field,” they stated.
I wish to remind the folks signing petitions that rationality is not exactly rampant in the world today. Did you know there was a war raging in the border region between Guyana and Venezuela as well as the more well publicized disputes in Eastern Europe and the Middle East? One would think that rational arguments and political actions would coincide, wouldn’t one?
Yeah, let me know how that works.
Several observations are warranted:
- Smart software seemed like a better bet than quantum computing to become the “next big thing.” Microsoft forced the issue. In the words of a Googler, “Let’s put some wood behind AI.” Outfits which had been chugging along trying to create a better way to process information burst into the bright glow of burning millions and then billions in AI research and development. Me-too outfits emerged from China, France, Germany, and other countries. Someone told me that the prone AI professor in Canada was the “father of AI.” Okay, Canada, you are in. How does a petition inject rational thought into a political process in one country? Falling behind means the other guys will have administrative privileges for SkyNet and Terminator.
- AI is definitely, 100 percent excellent for cyber crime. Now almost anyone with a mobile phone can spin up an automated phishing campaign. If it doesn’t work, well, just try again using another free service. Once a grandma coughs up $1,000 for her beloved grandson’s bail, the bad actor can use Telegram to operate like a cyber criminal from 2015. Will the bad actors give up AI? Yeah, right.
- US-style AI is a great training ground, source of content, and provider of systems and methods. Should anyone be surprised that those interested in AI are going to the well in Silicon Valley and sucking out something essential for survival. News flash: Most of the IP has been used to water AI hot houses around the world. To use a well-worn metaphor, the barn burned, the horses are gone, and a Temu-type outfit is planning a large AI data center on the property. Petitions? Nope, just a local building permit and a business or intelligence agency’s operational plan.
- Are there accelerationists with political clout? I can’t answer that question, but the petition signers should work up an answer to this question.
Net net: The AI sky is brightly lit. There are the cash dumpster fires. The glow of jet turbines at data centers. The fierce light in the eyes of the BAIT (big AI tech) luminaries. And the sad camp fires of those without jobs camping on the streets in major US cities. Yep, nice try. Too bad the AI aircraft have departed.
Stephen E Arnold, August 7, 2026
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