Jason Baker

Director of Nat Sec Policy @EncodeAction | AI, defense & emerging tech | 20-year military vet | Former @GovAIOrg Fellow | Prior @DoDDTRA | Dad joke enthusiast

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Who is held accountable when AI goes rogue?

I’m launching an investigation into OpenAI - Americans deserve answers

[Dean W. Ball @deanwball]

“This has all the makings of a coordinated op funded by shadowy mega donors,” said people engaged in a coordinated op funded by shadowy mega donors

[Sen. Maria Cantwell @SenatorCantwell]

Republicans are suddenly waking up to the urgent need for tough AI safety rules, a sharp reversal from last year when House Republicans and Chairman Cruz tried to impose a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulations that the tech bros wanted. I welcome the urgency. But the answer is not a weak federal standard that becomes a backdoor for wiping out stronger state protections. Meaningful legislation would require the most powerful AI models undergo testing by scientists and experts at our national laboratories to assess whether they could enable sophisticated cyberattacks or aid the development of biological or nuclear weapons.

[Sneha @SnehaRevanur]

Rumors that labs were speedrunning neuralese (not true yet) have made concrete commitments to CoT monitorability more urgent - esp if incentives naturally slide toward opaque architectures. Redwood has a proposal out that I hope OpenAI, Anthropic, and others will rally around:

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

"Compared with the threat of catastrophic cyberattacks or A.I. agents that fail to align with human intentions, biological misuse has gained less attention as an existential risk of A.I., in part because past examples have generally been shown only in research settings rather than in the real world."

I vote we do something about that.

https://t.co/4xTD9iaGko

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

We should celebrate when politicians and leaders publicly admit they believe they were wrong about something, and encourage evidence, experts, research, etc., to change minds or adapt views.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

The truth is for too long, too many of us did not give enough weight to the warnings of AI safety activists, thinking the extreme scenarios were science fiction.

I was one of those many, and I was wrong. Although I always supported a robust federal AI agency for safety, I should have in retrospect supported @Scott_Wiener SB 1047 which would have established state liability. The bulk of the California delegation was mistaken in writing a letter opposing that bill. I say this as someone who has endorsed Scott's opponent, Connie Chan, for Congress. On this issue, he was right.

As I've studied this problem, and listened to the AI safety experts, I believe we not only need the federal approach I outlined above but also a robust state approach and mandatory insurance.

I have always believed in transparency when I get a call wrong. I hope more lawmakers tackle this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

@RoKhanna Being willing to say this publicly is important!

[OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical]

Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan last night damaged several American aircraft -CBS

Roughly eight F-15s suffered light damage and one A-10 was severely damaged, losing a wing.

[Emma Ashford @EmmaMAshford]

This is excellent. I'm only halfway through, but it's the most comprehensive overview of the current Hormuz situation I've seen.

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

@RyanFedasiuk Ball knower

[Julie Steele @eeeeiluj]

I work at OpenAI. In my personal capacity, I also think we need to slow down.

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

A reflection on service, 25 years on, and how that shapes my views on how we address and prepare for the future.

https://t.co/7Bo9804MdQ

[Ashley Gold @ashleyrgold]

**welcome to tech policy, everyone**

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

Well said and I agree.

[Miles Brundage @Miles_Brundage]

I have never been a big P(Doom) guy for various reasons but for the record:

- lots of informed people in industry think the real risk is >>10%

- even 1% would be super unacceptable

- lots of things could decrease whatever the real number is by a lot, let's focus on doing them

[Alex Bores @AlexBores]

Everyone is grappling with the massive shift in the Overton window over the past two days.

That said, I'm disappointed that this doesn't have the same urgency, specificity, and clarity that we've seen in the statements released by many employees (at Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and elsewhere).

[Anderson Cooper 360° @AC360]

Former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon says the AI industry is "gambling with our lives." He tells Anderson what he finds "most scary is if AI is used to make itself more intelligent" and warns these companies are "compelled to race toward building a deadly technology."

[zzDANIEL_ETH @daniel_271828]

Here’s a thread of all the members of Congress who have tweeted in response to Jacob resigning from Anthropic and describing that “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”

(lmk if I missed any)

🧵

[Jason Baker @JasonBakerJB]

@DougCalidas I can’t decide if I love it or hate it.

[Sneha @SnehaRevanur]

This is what I meant by comically redlined corpospeak btw