POLICY · REGULATION · #2528
Schmidt and coauthors liken OpenAI and Anthropic to colonial trading companies in Foreign Affairs essay
In a Foreign Affairs essay, Eric Schmidt with Niall Ferguson and Lisa Klaassen argue that the US and China have built rival AI empires that concentrate capital, chips, energy, and markets, likening firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic to East India Companies; they cite export controls (Anthropic’s temporary shutdown of Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after a U.S. order) and warn that a Taiwan/TSMC disruption is the greatest supply-chain risk, proposing a Cold War–style AI détente with capability limits.
KEY POINTS
- In a Foreign Affairs essay, Eric Schmidt with Niall Ferguson and Lisa Klaassen argue that the US and China have built rival AI empires that concentrate capital, chips, energy, and markets, likening firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic to East India Companies; they cite export controls (Anthropic’s temporary shutdown of Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after a U.S.
- order) and warn that a Taiwan/TSMC disruption is the greatest supply-chain risk, proposing a Cold War–style AI détente with capability limits.
- Frames AI development as geopolitical and regulatory, highlighting export controls and TSMC as systemic risks that could shape policy and market access.
WHY IT MATTERS
Frames AI development as geopolitical and regulatory, highlighting export controls and TSMC as systemic risks that could shape policy and market access.