Description
This paper explores how secrecy compounds across the AI supply chain and its implications for the public interest and innovation.
It has been accepted for presentation at the 2024 UN Internet Governance Forum. The online publication is forthcoming, and a link will be provided once it becomes available.
Download
To be made available
Abstract
Secrecy is a feature, not a bug, for generative AI models. We explore this as a regime of successive interrelations that involves i. economic incentives towards secrecy based on high resource costs; ii. legal protections through intellectual property and the doctrine of trade secrets; and iii. policy concerns around public interest and tensions with technological innovation. A clear example of this regime at work can be seen in recent EU AI regulations, which seek to both promote transparency ideals whilst protecting trade secrecy. A proposed solution is global investment into open source AI, though such investment would need to be made across multiple layers of the generative AI model stack.