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Gavin Newsom’s AI ‘kill switch’ is good persuasion, ridiculous policy

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Gavin Newsom’s executive order calling for a “kill switch” for AI is nothing new.

It recycles an old idea from more than 15 years ago, when “the internet” was still big and scary to many people.

Back then, several senators proposed legislation to allow the president to flip a “kill switch” to disrupt the Internet.

The idea took hold in the public imagination; it even featured in an episode of “South Park,” where Kyle “unplugs” the Internet.

But the bill never passed, because no one could figure out how it would work, legally or technically — and nothing has changed.

Newsom suggests a “third party” will control the “kill switch”: Who would that be?

Who would appoint the “third party”? Who would control it?

And wouldn’t a “kill switch” represent a new threat?

Wouldn’t something more powerful than all the AI companies just be something new to fear?

And what of the........

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