Comment by Elliot Jones

Researchers have also raised concerns that giving a centralized institution access to the advanced AI models of leading labs might compromise the security of those labs and models. For example, effective access to design evaluations and benchmarks may require the ability to copy a given model, which could undermine the commercial interests of those labs and enable diffusion of those models before adequate testing. This may be less of an issue for mechanistic interpretability and similar research, which may not require access to the latest models. Lastly, a CERN for AI would have to grapple with rising geopolitical tensions. It is arguably harder today to start an international governance body than it was in the era immediately after the Second World War. Most leading AI labs are based in the US and China, two countries that are arguably engaged in a ‘new cold war’ that is fuelling a technological arms race between them.