Today, Josiah Ober analyzes the challenge of designing artificial intelligence systems that will protect and advance human values and dignity; H.R. McMaster takes the stage in Germany to offer historical perspective on current challenges in the transatlantic relationship; and Raghuram Rajan argues that some concern is warranted regarding the high levels of debt supporting the continued development and deployment of AI tools with uncertain economic and political impacts.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Values
AI systems are on their way to becoming deeply embedded in our social institutions, leading Senior Fellow Josiah Ober to ask: How will humans and machines work together? And who will set the terms of their partnership? Even now, machines are moving from mere tools to integral components in countless human environments, writes Ober. The key to approaching this 21st-century transformation is to find ways to design these hybrid systems so they serve human values, Ober argues, and to remember that this design challenge is political, not technological. As Ober notes, Pope Leo XIV has also referred to this challenge, insisting that AI must support human dignity and values, just as “new things” have done in the past. Ober asks readers to consider, “Will these systems enhance human agency and democratic self-governance, or will they concentrate power and diminish our capacity for self-determination?” Read more here.
Europe and Transatlantic Relations
In this address and Q&A hosted by the German Council on Foreign Relations, Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster reflects on current anxieties about the US-Europe relationship by placing them in a historical context. McMaster notes how, while living in Germany for six years, he witnessed one of the defining moments of his life: seeing East Germany open the gates to West Germany and tens of thousands of East Germans pour across the border to embrace and bring gifts to West Germans and American troops. McMaster says that his 10 days of recent travel across Germany made clear that pessimism about European-American relations abound. But the former national security advisor argues that this pessimism places too much focus on squabbles among individuals while missing the “gravity of our history together,” as well as the seriousness of the geopolitical situation facing both Europe and the United States. Watch here.
Economics of AI
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Writing at Project Syndicate, Senior Fellow Raghuram Rajan argues that while AI tools are incredibly powerful and useful, “the market euphoria around AI has become worrisome, especially given the extent of large-scale debt issuance by the sector.” He uses this column to analyze “where in the AI supply chain things could go wrong.” Rajan looks at concerns involving the security and reliability of AI systems and public backlash to data center construction as among the obstacles to continued deployment of the technology. “Perhaps the most important trigger for political intervention would be massive AI-related job losses,” the distinguished financial economist argues. Rajan also says debt payments could prove crushing for some firms. While noting that the technology “will likely pay off eventually” in aggregate, Rajan concludes, “not every provider will profit, or even survive.” Read more here.
The Declaration at 250
Continuing his series on the Declaration of Independence’s history during wartime, Distinguished Research Fellow Michael Auslin offers a glimpse into the secretive operations surrounding the Declaration during World War II. Even prior to the US entry to the war, the Librarian of Congress worried about protecting the nation’s founding document from aerial bombardment. Auslin recounts how, in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Declaration, along with the Constitution and “the finest copy of Britain’s Magna Carta” were securely packed and covertly shipped to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Auslin emphasizes that amid America’s struggle against Nazism and Japanese imperialism, “the values of the Declaration” played an important role in justifying “the extirpation of totalitarianism.” Check out the full essay for a deeper dive into the secret movements of the Declaration during the uncertain early days of the Second World War. Read more here
Global Economic History
A new episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century offers viewers a sweeping tour of the Chicago school’s global economic legacy—from Milton Friedman’s classrooms to Chile’s market revolution, Argentina’s reversals, and the enduring battle over economic freedom. Policy Fellow Jon Hartley and guest Sebastian Edwards discuss Edwards’s time at the University of Chicago as a PhD student in the time of Milton Friedman and the florescence of the Chicago school; Chile’s market reforms and the Chicago Boys (documented in Sebastian’s most recent book, The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism); Javier Milei and Argentina’s prospects of economic reversal; renewed hope for Venezuela; and whether economic freedom and market reforms are ascendant worldwide. Watch or listen here.
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