OpenAI desires for AI to be perceived similar to a car. Europe was the birthplace of the automobile, yet stringent regulations hindered its broad acceptance there. However, in laissez-faire America, the car became central to culture. OpenAI wishes for the U.S. to replicate that scenario. On Monday, the entity behind ChatGPT released AI in America: OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint, a whitepaper appealing to Washington to let AI guide the nation’s future.

AI in America is a modest 15-page document featuring an AI-generated image on its cover, showcasing an architect’s workspace silhouetted against a futuristic cityscape. Initially, both the image and the 15 pages appear satisfactory. Yet, like much associated with AI, both the image and the strategy for economic enrichment seem ambiguous and dispiriting upon closer scrutiny. The coffee cup in the picture lacks a handle, while the text within appears as illegible blurs. The economic blueprint includes propositions urging the government to disclose public secrets to expansive private firms.

The deeper the examination, the more things unravel. OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint is an appeal for a minimally regulated AI future where government-accumulated data, encompassing state secrets and public information, is integrated into its extensive and voracious machines.

The foremost thing OpenAI intends for you to perceive is the significance and daunting nature of AI. “AI is too potent to be directed and molded by autocrats, yet that is the mounting danger we confront, while the economic potential AI offers is too alluring to relinquish,” states an introductory note from OpenAI vice president of global affairs Chris Lehane. “Shared prosperity is as proximate and tangible as the new jobs and growth (opens in a new window) impending from establishing more AI infrastructure such as data facilities, chip production sites, and power stations.”

And how should America fulfill such lofty aspirations? By distributing as many of its secrets as feasibly possible with AI organizations. “As deemed appropriate, share national security-related data and resources, maintained solely by it—such as briefings on industrial threats to the industry and high-level outcomes of evaluating US and non-US AI models—with US AI enterprises pursuing pioneering research,” the economic blueprint suggests.

It proceeds further. OpenAI persistently wants the federal authorities to convey their “distinct proficiency to AI organizations, encompassing details about how to safeguard their IP against industrial security threats and alleviate possible cyber, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) and other risks elevated by increasingly potent models.”

Moreover, there’s copious valuable data merely waiting to be analyzed. “A substantial portion of government data resides in the public sphere. Rendering it more accessible or amenable to machine-reading could facilitate US AI developers of diverse scales, particularly those working in sectors where critical data is considerably government-owned,” the blueprint asserts. “In return, developers utilizing this data could collaborate with government to unearth new insights that aid in crafting enhanced public policies.”

The economic blueprint also highlights that “infrastructure determines destiny” and claims that the U.S. is uniquely poised to generate employment and surpass China. All that is necessary is a focus on establishing infrastructure for AI systems rather than for people. “In the AI epoch, chips, data, energy and skill are the resources that will sustain ongoing US hegemony, akin to the mass production of automobiles, harnessing these resources will generate widespread economic opportunities and bolster our global competitiveness,” it claims.

What does that signify? “Grasping the opportunity and establishing the necessary infrastructure to generate sufficient energy and chips to decrease the cost of computing and make it abundant,” it postulates. “In return, this will create tens of thousands of skilled-trade opportunities, stimulate local economies through expenditure and adjacent employment creation, and modernize our energy grid in the short term— ultimately fostering the type of breakthroughs and innovations that propel enduring economic advancement.”

That might be effective, presuming AI proves as vital to the world’s future as OpenAI and all other AI firms assert.

OpenAI unveiled its economic blueprint for America the morning the Biden administration announced comprehensive new regulations for the industry. Biden’s recent measures will produce a hierarchical list of nations with which AI organizations engage in commerce. Tier one includes the U.S. and 18 of its partners. These nations enjoy no restrictions. China and Russia fall in tier three, prohibiting any AI company from transacting with them. The remainder of the globe occupies tier two. These can enjoy minor AI applications, as a concession. Yet, the White House will impose limits.

“In its final days in authority, the Biden Administration endeavors to destabilize America’s supremacy with an extensive 200+ page regulatory labyrinth, crafted covertly and devoid of proper legislative scrutiny,” NVIDIA expressed in a blog post concerning the new regulations. “This extensive incursion would impose bureaucratic governance over the global design and marketing of America’s premier semiconductors, computers, systems, and even software.”

These represent the sorts of cumbersome regulations that OpenAI opposed in its economic framework. Yet, the focus is predominantly on nations outside the U.S. Altman and OpenAI have long endeavored to strike a balance between declaring AI a transformative technology that demands liberation while also acknowledging its hazards and the need for serious governance.

However, the regulation-inclined Democrats are no longer in command. Everything might transform in a week. Elon Musk isn’t fond of Altman and OpenAI, and, at the moment, he is allied with the incoming leader. Observing how OpenAI’s calls for lenient governance and extensive access to federal information are handled by the new President and his Musk-endorsed administration will be intriguing.