Geoffrey Fowler, on his blog, which, alas, he calls “a Substack”:
I’m joining the Youth AI Safety Institute as its first new
employee. It’s a research and testing organization launching today
under the umbrella of children’s nonprofit Common Sense
Media. Backed by a $20 million annual budget, the Institute
aims to do something that doesn’t really exist yet: systematically
test the AI products kids use, set safety standards, and publicly
hold tech companies accountable for meeting them. Think crash test
dummies for AI.
On the surface this sounds like a great idea, and Fowler does have a strong background in consumer-oriented product reviews.
My title is Head of Public Engagement — a kind of
editor-at-large. I’ll work alongside researchers, computer
scientists, pediatricians, clinical psychologists and educators
to investigate what happens when kids use AI products,
including chatbots, games, educational apps, furry AI
toys and whatever comes next. My job is to help turn
those findings into something families, educators, policymakers
and tech leaders can use.“We safety-test kids’ PJs. Why not their AI?” says my new
colleague at Common Sense, Bruce Reed, who helped craft the Biden
White House’s groundbreaking 2023 AI Executive Order.
What exactly did Biden’s AI Executive Order accomplish? As far as I know, absolutely nothing.
Some tech power players, including Anthropic and the OpenAI
Foundation, have joined a consortium of foundations and private
donors funding the Institute’s work. They get no say over what we
publish. (And in my time at The Washington Post, I didn’t let
Jeff Bezos’ ownership of the newspaper affect my
criticism of Amazon.)
I’m not sure I’ve ever in my life used the phrase “Good luck with that” non-sarcastically, but in this case I mean it: good luck with that. I hope it works out, and someone has to pay the bills (and salaries). But color me skeptical about the foxes funding the henhouse inspectors.
