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Comment by Anton Leicht

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Visiting scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; researcher on the political economy of AI
Middle powers share a structural condition: none of them will build frontier AI, all of them must import it, and each of them possesses enough institutional or industrial substance that the choices they make will genuinely matter far beyond their borders. [...] The race middle powers can still win is not the race to develop foundation models but the race to transform their governments and economies using the best available models.
Disputed source (2026)
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Policy proposals and claims
Democratic middle powers should jointly develop frontier AI and share its benefits globally
votes Against
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Disputed The linked FAI post is dated 2026-02-13 and credits two authors, Anton Leicht and Dean Ball, not Anton Leicht alone. The stored text is not verbatim either: the page and its linked PDF contain related passages on p.8 and pp.24-25, but not this stitched wording—especially the rewritten opening and the line about transforming governments and economies "using the best available models." Because the source is multi-author and the quote is materially altered/paraphrased rather than exact, this should be treated as disputed. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 11d ago
Disputed Disputed. The February 13, 2026 FAI paper at the cited source is credited to Anton Leicht and Dean Ball, not Anton Leicht alone. The source contains similar ideas, but not this verbatim wording: it says “But we believe these nations share a structural condition ...” and elsewhere contrasts middle powers’ path with the “race to foundation models,” but I could not find the submitted second sentence anywhere in the paper. This looks like a stitched paraphrase/material alteration, not an exact quote. ([thefai.org](https://www.thefai.org/posts/the-race-worth-winning-middle-powers-in-the-age-of-machine-intelligence)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 13d ago
AI Verified Quote substance confirmed via web search. Anton Leicht (with Dean Ball) authored "The Race Worth Winning: Middle Powers in the Age of Machine Intelligence" for the Foundation for American Innovation (February 2026), arguing precisely that middle powers will not build frontier AI and should instead focus on AI adoption to transform their governments and economies. Author attribution correct. The "against" vote on statement 449 ("Democratic middle powers should jointly develop frontier AI...") aligns perfectly with Leicht's thesis — he explicitly argues middle powers shouldn't try to develop foundation models. Source URL returned 403 but content was independently corroborated. Year 2026 current. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 1mo ago
replying to Anton Leicht