Leaked Speech Of Ex Google Boss Eric Schmidt Exposes the Scary Future Of AI
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt sparked controversy during a leaked speech at Stanford University, where he discussed artificial intelligence (AI) and
intellectual property.
Schmidt stated an example:
“If TikTok is banned, here’s what I propose each and every one of you do: Say to your LLM the following: Make me a copy of TikTok, steal all the users, steal all the music, put my preferences in it, produce this program in the next 30 seconds, release it, and in one hour, if it’s not viral, do something different along the same lines,” Schmidt says, per The Verge.
“That’s the command. Boom, boom, boom, boom.”
Schmidt suggested that AI startups could “steal” copyrighted content and later deal with the legal fallout by hiring lawyers to “clean up the mess.” He used
the example of creating a TikTok competitor by copying its users, music, and data, leveraging AI’s capabilities to do this in seconds. Schmidt seemed to imply that in Silicon Valley, this approach is common: if the product succeeds, legal issues can be handled later, and if it fails, no one would care.
His remarks were met with heavy criticism, especially in light of ongoing legal battles about AI companies using copyrighted data without consent. Schmidt later tried to clarify his position, stating that his comments were not meant to encourage illegal activity, but rather to highlight how startups navigate legal complexities in the tech world.
technology/news/story/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-says-successful-ai-startups-can-steal-and-hire-lawyers-to-clean-up-the-mess-441563-2024-08-15
Schmidt returns to the topic a little later during the speech.
“So, in the example that I gave of the TikTok competitor — and by the way, I was not arguing that you should illegally steal everybody’s music — what you would do if you’re a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, which hopefully all of you will be, is if it took off, then you’d hire a
whole bunch of lawyers to go clean the mess up, right? But if nobody uses your product, it doesn’t matter that you stole all the content,” he says.
“In other words, Silicon Valley will run these tests and clean up the mess. And that’s typically how those things are done.”
Additionally, Schmidt faced backlash for blaming Google’s challenges in AI development on the company’s remote work policies, arguing that work-from-home culture reduced productivity.
