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Policy · Updated 25 Oct, 01:39 pm IST

Ex-Google CEO compares OpenAI and Anthropic to colonial trading companies

Image: The Decoder

Why it matters for readers: Gives a geopolitical view of AI: powerful labs, resource needs, and how rules can block access for other countries.

  • The essay says model progress depends on energy, minerals, chips, and capital, making software a scarce geopolitical resource again.1
  • Authors argue that countries unable to meet resource and capital thresholds are 'not in the game at all.'1
  • They compare OpenAI and Anthropic to East India Companies that negotiate with governments while operating under government constraints.1
  • The authors cite a June case where the US Commerce Department ordered Anthropic to cut off foreign nationals from its top models, prompting the company to shut the models worldwide because it could not verify users' nationalities in real time.1
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