David Sachs criticizes Dario Amodei for pushing AI regulation that could stifle open source innovation, calling proposals like an 'FDA for AI' harmful and dismissing UBI as a fantasy.
There's been all types of people on X attacking Dario Amodei lately. The latest is from David Sachs. https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2089227290769080656 He states Dario is wrong about automation: The second part of Dario’s post assumes we have amnesia about Anthropic’s well-orchestrated campaigns hyping AI fears. His May 2025 claim that AI would wipe out 50 percent of entry-level knowledge jobs within five years still lacks supporting evidence fifteen months later. These narratives have done more than anything to shape public fear. People are left asking the same question Mark Zuckerberg posed: why race to build a future you describe in such negative terms? He also said Dario is creating a "DMV" for AI: Dario has consistently pushed for a new federal agency to review and approve frontier models prior to release – a proposal framed variously as an “FDA for AI,” an “FAA for AI,” and most recently a “FINRA for AI.” I call it a “DMV for AI” because a review process modeled on the FAA or FDA (which takes years) or FINRA (which issues rules for a staid industry widely seen as protecting incumbents) will create long queues as AI models wait for testing and approval. This process will only become more labyrinthine as rules accumulate to prevent theoretical harms. Anthropic is on track to become one of the most valuable companies in history, with the resources to navigate any approval process and shape the rules while competitors wait. Dario wants open models under heavier scrutiny – he has called them dangerous in Senate testimony, criticized them for not being centrally monitored or withdrawn, and linked them to IP theft. He says he has never sought a ban, but he could achieve a similar result by insisting that identical rules apply to both open and closed models. The U.S. risks becoming an island of costly closed models while the rest of the world races ahead with broader choice. His post last year calling UBI a Fantasy: https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1929951203015659571?lang=en The future of AI has become a Rorschach test where everyone sees what they want. The Left envisions a post-economic order in which people stop working and instead receive government benefits. In other words, everyone on welfare. This is their fantasy; it’s not going to happen. My take on this: I do wish Dario was more pro-open source, but people like David Sachs, who wants this current capitalist structure, where people have to live their entire lives as wage slaves, to always remain permanently, is far more dangerous because it would guarantee a dystopia. There is no good future without universal high income.
David Sacks critiques Dario Amodei's AI regulation proposals, arguing they could enable regulatory capture, benefit large firms like Anthropic, and disadvantage open models, potentially harming U.S. competitiveness.
Dario Amodei argues that AI regulation can be structured to decentralize power, address risks, and advantage smaller competitors by differentially constraining frontier models.