Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Says Joe Biden's AI Executive Order Likely To Benefit OpenAI, Anthropic: 'Could Disappear If The Administration Changes'

Last week, President Joe Biden signed a landmark executive order on artificial intelligence, establishing new standards for AI safety and security. While the order has received praise from different sectors of the tech community, it has also raised some concerns about the stringent regulations stifling innovation, and Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment also belongs to the latter category.  

What Happened: In its latest weekly innovation letter, Ark Invest’s Brett Winton said that this executive order could likely profit companies like ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and Anthropic, which are “focused on foundation models and already operate at commercial scale, at the expense of ‘scrappier’ open-source efforts.”

Winton gave an example of Anthropic, which has AI alignment as one of its founding principles, making it well-suited for complying with the order’s requirements seamlessly. 

The newsletter further suggested that this regulatory oversight could benefit companies working on the “foundation model” layer in the AI value chain, noting that this trend was already emerging even before the executive order and will continue for the next ten years. 

See Also: Why Cathie Wood Picks Tesla Over Nvidia As Top AI Play For Next 5 Years

Winton shared concerns about the stringent regulation of deep neural nets restricting the development of crucial technological advancements, saying, “We believe that the world needs more—not less—innovation” in the field of AI. 

The chief futurist of Ark Investment also stated that the executive order’s definition of “artificial intelligence” seems broad, which could encompass “even a simple Excel spreadsheet.”

“Imagine what the fate of Excel would have been if dozens of federal agencies had oversight over its evolution,” Winton said. 

He concluded by saying that the executive order “could disappear if the Administration changes in January 2025.”

Why It’s Important: Winton isn’t alone in the opinion that strict AI regulations could stifle innovation. Previously, Yann LeCun, one of the three “Godfathers of AI” and Meta’s chief AI scientist, has voiced similar disagreements. 

In fact, he compared stringent AI regulations with the Romanian government’s enforcement of requiring a license to own or even retain “dangerous” typewriters in 1983. 

Google Brain co-founder Andrew Ng also asserted earlier this year that big tech companies have been deceiving the public about the threat posed by AI.

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