Voorhees: Don't Let 'Sauron Have the Ring' on AI Releases
Erik Voorhees is warning against giving government a veto over AI releases, a power already floated in a September bill and in El-Sayed's campaign platform.
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Key takeaways
- Erik Voorhees used a Lord of the Rings metaphor to attack the idea of a government veto on AI releases.
- The warning targets control over when AI models can be released.
- A September bill already proposed such a power.
- Abdul El-Sayed's campaign platform also includes it.
Erik Voorhees doesn't do subtle. The crypto entrepreneur behind ShapeShift and Venice has a message on AI policy: "Do not let Sauron have the ring." What he's aiming at is any government power to approve or block AI releases.
What he's pushing back on
The metaphor isn't hard to decode. A release veto is a single point of control, and Voorhees argues no government should hold it. That's the ring in his story.
And this isn't some thought experiment. The idea of controlling AI releases is already in a bill proposed in September. It also shows up in El-Sayed's campaign platform. Want details? So did I. The source material doesn't give any on either proposal, so we can't tell you how a veto would work in practice or who'd be holding it. Keep that in mind when someone tells you it's all figured out.
Why it matters
If you've been in crypto a while, you've watched this movie. Permission-based rules on software and money tend to push projects offshore or into open-source corners. Require a government sign-off for AI releases, and the same thing could hit AI agents, trading bots and on-chain AI tokens that lean on openly available models.
Voorhees has pushed for open, permissionless tech for years, so his stance is no shock. The harder question is whether lawmakers can address AI safety concerns without building a gatekeeper. Nobody's answered that. Not yet.
Source: CryptoSlate
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