Raw LLM Responses

Agreed - I think this was an 'oops' kind of hire for the type of discourse that a non-profit like CAIS, at least in order to be effective, needs to demonstrate. I see this coming from 2 different angles. Yes, Sherman represents much of what Big AI loathes. Yes, he articulated some ideas in a clumsy way that a person in his particular position with CAIS would probably endear neither Big AI, nor the government at whose table they indeed have a seat**. And the 'big beautiful bill' being prepared for an 11th hour scramble for birth before Memorial Day has a component that has been given relatively brief press - a provision that prohibits any US state to regulate AI for 10 yrs post passage. And how effective will the CAIS be then? I think Sherman's place as a social media influencer could conceivably generate a far greater voice as a pundit than as a formal watchdog anyway. It's fine (and important) to be a strongly opinionated pundit. But for groups attempting to broker agreement with these companies and the US Government, a figure introducing hyperbole without doing the necessary 'this is complete hyperbole' disclaimer leaves one open to attack from the other side of this invisible line drawn in the sand. It's even fine for Marc Andreessen to use all of his hyperbolic double-speak about AI Murka First. He, like Sherman, are both pundits - one just happens to be far wealthier, which is the unfortunate barometer in today's climate about 'who gets to say what and when'. Bottom line, when you're in a formalized position where your actual job sits squarely in the middle of the social gunsight reticle, you'd better be acting with very purposeful and clear movement in messaging if you want to survive in that role. As a pundit, the measuring stick is quite different. However, the cautionary position that John Sherman takes should not be understated. I'm thinking less of the 'AI becomes sentient and Younger Schwarzenegger skinned mechanoids begin nuking all organic matter'. I'm thinking more immediately of the aims of both Big AI and the companies using it. People waffle about this, but to me it's quite clear - people are using AI as a means to replace human workers. There are those who are skeptical of AIs impact on this front. Perhaps they don't understand the very *ideas* impacting corporate execs' views which focus on making investors happy. And reductions in workforce are most certainly a part of this (in the 'rightly lit' context of course). The fact is - people are indeed being displaced ... a quite underestimated (also many hidden) number of people, if only on the idea that AI can '20x engineers and knowledge workers and blah blah whatever'. I've seen this attitude in medical device corporate environments. The mere idea that a person could 'look good', in this era of self-aggrandizement, by laying off 20 workers is quite attractive to many - ethics regarding human dignity be damned. What's worse, the people we are talking about are the most vulnerable among us: those in lower and middle-income SES strata (but has that really ever NOT been the case?). This particular behavior, while historical, appears to be happening at a far snappier cadence. Even today, the CEO of Medtronic was discussing AI-based surgical planning software that would 'over time lessen the need for the various healthcare workers around that procedure', though he followed that by "I don't see us replacing doctors anytime soon". Read that how you will. If you want to 'move fast' on something, move fast on the idea that our most likely interim societal scenario is that of 'the rise of the people in grey jumpers'. A rising proletariat and a ruling oligarchy. While Big AI is only one culprit in this problem, it looms quite large in the grand scheme of what our own social outlook could be. Pendulums usually swing in the socioeconomic politico-spheres, but I think this one could get stuck. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/05/21/medtronic-ceo-more-companies-are-spinning-off-problems-were-spinning-off-an-attractive-asset.html#:~:text=Geoff%20Martha%2C%20Medtronic%20CEO%2C%20joins,growth%20strategy%20and%20surgical%20robotics. **Check out Heather Cox Richardson's May 18 blog on 'the big beautiful bill' and where AI companies are set to fall in all of this. She's a historian who writes 'Letters from an American' - https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-18-2025-28f).