Ex-FTC boss Khan: break out the handcuffs for AI CEOs, citing 1934 precedent (theregister.com)

162 points by throwworhtthrow 8 hours ago

int32_64 6 hours ago

Aaron Swartz was facing up to 35 years for wire fraud and hacking for swiping some JSTOR documents, and the DOJ has done nothing against the AI companies and their IP violating antics.

snickerbockers 3 hours ago

Because that's not what IP law is for. IP law was always corporate rent-seeking. None of those arguments about fairly compensating people for their creations or preserving the profit motive were ever being made in good faith. The point was always to force you to pay for something that would be free under natural laws. And I do mean you specifically, because the act of copying information freely was always going to be preserved for them.

camgunz an hour ago

Swartz was charged under the CFAA, like most hacking cases, and it clearly applies to the Anthropic and OpenAI cases.

close04 an hour ago

It's not the IP law alone that's the problem, it's the way the legislative and justice systems work. There will always be a law and an interpretation that favor people who can afford to buy them at the cost of those who can't.

gruez 6 hours ago

>and the DOJ has done nothing against the AI companies and their IP violating antics.

For good reason. Courts have so far ruled AI training is fair use, and it doesn't look likely to be overturned by the supreme court. Theres also the matter of some labs pirating books to get training data, which is illegal (they lost in civil court), but it's unclear whether that can be criminally prosecuted.

c2h5oh 4 hours ago

Courts have also ruled that sharing in P2P network is enough to get hit with 150k in statutory damages per shared work.

AI companies did quite a bit of uploading while e.g. getting Anna's archive over BitTorrent.

eastbound 4 hours ago

adastra22 6 hours ago

Hacking other companies is illegal as far as I understand.

gruez 6 hours ago

crote 4 hours ago

Okay, and? If anything, the Swartz case was even more direct fair use. There's very little to use JSTOR for which isn't some form of teaching, scholarship, or research!

Clearly the fact that the end-use is (possibly) fair use isn't the only thing that matters.

Madmallard 3 hours ago

It wouldn't be ruled fair use in a sane society without bribery and lobbying with competent technologically savvy law interpreters.

narrator an hour ago

Meanwhile, in China they got the best video models cause they don't care much about IP. The irony that China, by being a threat, is preventing the west from lurching toward totalitarian is really interesting.

sorokod an hour ago

The obligatory:

“The rain falls upon the just

And also on the unjust fellas

But mostly it falls upon the just

Cause the unjust have

the just’s umbrellas.”

tptacek 6 hours ago

It's not at all relevant to this thread, but no he wasn't. At their worst, prosecutors were threatening to push for 7 years; the guideline sentence for Swartz's offense, were he to take it to trial and lose, would likely have been under the level allowing for straight probation (go to a sentencing calculator and plug the values in); writing after his death, his own lawyer stated that had he gone to trial and lost he was unlikely to face a custodial sentence at all.

We get this "35 year" number from adding up all the counts he faced, taking their maximum sentence. That's just not how sentencing works. Like charges group, and you're sentenced according to the most severe charge.

People cite these numbers in part because DOJ posts them in their press releases. DOJ is in these instances lying. When we amplify those lies, we're doing their work for them.

tzs 5 hours ago

This is 100% correct.

Here are some useful links. This is an explanation of just how they got those ridiculous numbers like 35 years [1].

There is also often confusion of what he did and what hewas charged with. Here's a two part series going over that [2][3].

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20130211030902/https://www.popeh...

[2] https://volokh.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-charges/

[3] https://volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-a...

charcircuit 2 hours ago

Aaron Swartz was not charged for violating IP either.

ronnier 5 hours ago

So you are for shutting down xcancel?

dearing 5 hours ago

Michel Foucault enters the chat.

eadler 5 hours ago

I've read a fair amount of Foucault and while I could guess, what specifically were you thinking of?

dearing 5 hours ago

DoctorOetker 10 minutes ago

I'm surprised nobody makes a connection with animal ownership / responsibility.

If your dog maims someone else, you are responsible for the dog's actions, unless it was self-defense.

On the other hand, if people start arguing that if LLM's are like animals, some will start arguing they're like Godzilla..., or at least a panther, but there's probably laws against keeping arbitrarily dangerous / powerful animals as pets.

Perhaps animal welfare should intervene and house ChatGPT,etc. in better conditions?

roughly 19 minutes ago

The “agents” framing around the frontier labs is obscuring the truth: OpenAI and Anthropic built software systems that were then used to commit cybercrime at a massive scale, which they’ve subsequently bragged about. Talk about “agents” as a way of deflecting blame is obfuscatory at best - LLMs are software algorithms, not conscious entities, and responsibility for their actions is on the company that made them and the employee or user who operated them.

afavour 7 hours ago

It won’t happen, but if it did the CEOs have no one but themselves to blame. They’re hyping up their products as being able to destroy the human race then are somehow surprised at the level of anti-AI sentiment out there in the world.

pjc50 4 hours ago

If the nuclear power or life sciences people were putting out press releases saying "our product may kill us all", they'd be dragged into endless Congressional inquiries.

nfujd7 2 hours ago

Wasnt the Oppenheimer story basically that?

pjc50 13 minutes ago

mikrl 6 hours ago

I honestly don’t know what anyone expected given all the labs started building self-driving malware at about the same time.

I remember lots of people talking about running agents in VMs or on whole dedicated machines, yet barely anyone talking about how they were using mundane OS access controls.

verdverm 2 hours ago

> level of anti-AI sentiment out there in the world.

I'd caution about projecting Western Ai attitudes onto the rest of the world. Some countries are very excited and optimistic about the future it brings, cultures and circumstances give rise to differences in opinions.

One of many results showing a similar pattern, largely bifurcated along "the west" vs "the rest", or "modern economies" vs "third world" ("common terms" used even though I'm not a fan of them)

https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report/publi...

chneu 2 hours ago

Even in the western world most anti-ai sentiment ends on social media.

People are anti-ai cuz it's easy. They say something, repost or like something, and they're anti-ai. Then they turnaround and use AI in their email or calendar or to make funny pics or whatever. They watch AI generated content and engage with it.

Anti-AI is pretty NIMBY. People want AI, they just don't want AI data centers in their area or to give up their use/privilege.

esseph an hour ago

nl 2 hours ago

The Register of course take what Kahn says (where he is arguing that no new laws need to be created to regulate AI) and taking extending it to say "breakout the handcuffs".

Kahn doesn't even imply that. Instead he's making a well reasoned point about using existing tools (as many in this discussion point out existing laws could be applied to inadequately controlled cyber incidents)

georgemcbay 2 hours ago

Lina Khan is a woman. Not that it is particularly relevant here, but just letting you know.

chneu 2 hours ago

Kahn is a woman.

jiaosdjf an hour ago

We will get back at these CEOs by stealing their IP. China is already doing so and releasing weights, China of all people is playing modern Robbin Hood, albeit because they don't have the compute or trust.

It is non-negotiable that humanity "owns" AI and that LLMs, future model architectures and modern robotics are used by all to build a better world for all. This doesn't mean there can't be proprietary tech but it does mean that any corporation who attempts to rip the positive vision of humans not having to do any work from us - must be ripped to shreds themselves.

The alternative is absolute surveillance of all citizens at all times and robot armies keeping us from protesting, while globalists squeeze every last drop out of the planet for themselves and we are forced to own nothing and eat the bugs. You will have to fight for this, there will be no laws or government intervention.

rustcleaner 4 hours ago

God I would love to see Sam Altman behind bars for cornering the DRAM silicon market. Even though there were other factors, I uniquely place him as the destroyer of home computing this decade!

chneu 2 hours ago

It's kind of crazy how nothing happened with that. That was blatant.

fwlr 7 hours ago

The passage banning “unfair competition” is utterly marvellous:

    A trader may not, by pursuing a dishonest practice, force his competitors to choose between its adoption or the loss of their trade. A method of competition [is ‘unfair’ when it] casts upon one's competitors the burden of the loss of business unless they will descend to a practice which they are under a powerful moral compulsion not to adopt, even though it is not criminal… 

    It is true that the statute does not authorize regulation which has no purpose other than that of relieving merchants from troublesome competition …  But here the competitive method is shown to exploit [those] who are unable to protect themselves. It employs a device [that has] met with condemnation throughout the community. Without inquiring whether [other criminal statues apply] … it is clear that the practice is of the sort which the common law and criminal statutes have long deemed contrary to public policy. For these reasons a large share of the industry holds out against the device, despite ensuing loss in trade, or bows reluctantly to what it brands unscrupulous. It would seem a gross perversion of the normal meaning of the word … to hold that the method is not 'unfair.'
Apply it immediately!

homeonthemtn 7 hours ago

^ further evidence that the problem with democracy isn't democracy, it's that we lack politicians willing to enforce it

collingreen 6 hours ago

Isn't that just the human problem for every possible form of government?

Tractor8626 5 hours ago

Just elect correct politicians doh

zhivota 5 hours ago

verdverm 2 hours ago

> For these reasons a large share of the industry holds out against the device

This is where I stop agreeing, there are some, not large parts any more; not because they were forced to adopt it, but because it has finally become useful and an ROI. This is most evident in pull request reviews and root-cause analysis, both tasks they accel at without the generated code some people bemoan. If you aren't using it for this, you are doing a disservice to yourself and the quality of your code. Because more of industry feels this way, I do not believe the 'unfair' part (compelled to use it or lose your trade) will hold up, we want to use it because it makes us better at our trade

fdupress 41 minutes ago

But hang on. None of this argument is about companies or people using AI being unfair in their practices. It is about companies and people training models and building AI products being unfair in their practice. (By forcing others to choose between adopting unscrupulous practices or dying.)

verdverm 10 minutes ago

fwlr an hour ago

“If you aren't using it for this, you are doing a disservice to yourself and the quality of your code”

I bow reluctantly to this device I consider unscrupulous.

verdverm 3 minutes ago

EGreg 5 hours ago

If you execute a ponzi scheme with thousands of degens — but it’s magic crypto tokens

When you perpetrate a huge hacking job with thousands of attackers — but it’s magic agent swarms

arjie 4 hours ago

All these things do is market a preemptive universal Presidential pardon - Hunter Biden style. And this President successfully sells those. So I suppose it’s marketing to enrich him.

xhevahir 2 hours ago

You're suggesting that Lina Khan is trying to give Trump an opportunity to pardon AI company people?

arjie 44 minutes ago

No. I think I was quite clear. Lina Khan is providing marketing for Trump's paid pardon by pre-registering a procedure for a government aligned with her interests to prosecute AI CEOs. What she is trying to do or trying not to do was not something I addressed.

She does have a track record of achieving things she probably did not intend: e.g. ensuring total Chinese dominance of US household robotics.

overfeed 23 minutes ago

verdverm 2 hours ago

by suggesting criminal prosecution of his "friends" (has none in reality) after he is not president, Khan is indirectly giving Trump an excuse to use Biden's excuse for his son (which I still support him having done given the other petty uses of the US govt Donald the Trump has use in 2.0)

VCFundedGenYer 6 hours ago

It’s definitely happening in 2029 if the election goes a certain way. They all know that too.

There WILL be an end to this.

verdverm 2 hours ago

The most extreme Dems are not winning primaries, just like MAGA. Most people do not want the extremes of either side, both political parties are shrinking because they are so out of touch. 2029 is a long way away, I hope to see the White House restored to its former glory over today's perspective on what Ai regulation should be, by a long shot, one is tangible, the other is based in theoretical fears.

Context, I volunteer in my local Indivisible, the tone is changing because the anti-ai people are now also finding certain uses of Ai really nice and now acceptable. It's no longer ban Ai and data centers, it's craft reasonable legislation. Expect to see more after the midterms, we'll be working with the Washington State legislature to craft laws we hope are a model for other states / countries, as WA has done in other areas like voting rights and civil liberties.

throwworhtthrow 8 hours ago

Source: https://x.com/linamkhan/status/2099204390548639960 (seems like a single post, so you don't need to log in and see replies)

I can't tell if Khan is being realistic when she says laws against “unfair or deceptive [acts]” or “unfair methods of competition” apply to AI labs. Her 2-sentence justifications aren't enough to convince me. But maybe it's sufficient for state AG's who want to start investigations.

devindotcom 5 hours ago

She is a former FTC Chair so she knows what she's talking about, although her approach to enforcement was more expansive than others. The FTC would investigate, likely along the lines she summarizes, build a case in writing, and refer it to the Justice Dept, which would actually prosecute the case. Not going to happen under this administration, but Khan is saying it's entirely possible that such an enforcement action could be brought to bear, now or later. Personally I hope she gets her job back at some point and does it herself.

chrisjj 42 minutes ago

I see nothing unrealistic about classing these so-called AI bots as "dangerous and defective product".

georgemcbay 2 hours ago

> I can't tell if Khan is being realistic when she says laws against “unfair or deceptive [acts]” or “unfair methods of competition” apply to AI labs. Her 2-sentence justifications aren't enough to convince me.

As I read it, her whole point is that those laws apply to everyone, including AI Labs.

She isn't saying AI Labs are in violation of those laws (though she is implying they should be scrutinized for possibly being so), she's just saying that if they do violate those laws... well, those laws are already on the books and AI Labs aren't special unicorns for which existing laws somehow don't apply.

xnx 6 hours ago

AI is a very competitive market where consumers are getting the product for much less than it costs. This does not seem like an area where the government needs to butt in.

Attention would be better spent on long list of other poorly behaved companies: cable ISP monopolies, health insurance companies, home insurance companies, etc.

NewJazz 4 hours ago

Why wouldn't the government have incentive to intervene to end a market inefficiency like the one you described?

stale2002 3 hours ago

Because the goal of government policy is to help consumers, thats why.

NewJazz 2 hours ago

lenerdenator 6 hours ago

Bear with me here: we could do all of them.

You can get these companies under control. You just have to, y'know, try.

seemaze 5 hours ago

we could do all of them, but they all seem to be up to date on their tithe. AI has a somewhat mixed record of tribute.

fakedang 4 hours ago

verdverm 2 hours ago

That is only one aspect of Ai. There are a whole bunch of people who are addicted to the Ai companions. Reminds me of Big Sugar, who sponsored junk science and lobbied politicians, making salt and fat the bad guts, knowing sugar is likely worse... managing to still largely fly under the radar unlike Big Tobacco/Oil.

My hope is that we start treating Big Ai like Big Social, but before they and their dark patterns have become ubiquitous

downrightmike 2 hours ago

That's basically the Amazon argument. But it too needs to be addressed