The fusing of AI firms and the state is leading to a dangerous concentration of power
With all of this in mind, Hard Reset spoke with researcher Sarah West, the co-executive director of a think tank advocating for an AI that benefits the public interest, not just a select few. We discuss this consolidation of power among a few AI players—and how the government is actually hindering the development of healthier competition and consumer-friendly AI products, while flirting with financial disaster.
Hard Reset
Oct 31, 2025
The Destruction in Gaza Is What the Future of AI Warfare Looks Like
“AI systems, and generative AI models in particular, are notoriously flawed with high error rates for any application that requires precision, accuracy, and safety-criticality,” Dr. Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, told Gizmodo. “AI outputs are not facts; they’re predictions. The stakes are higher in the case of military activity, as you’re now dealing with lethal targeting that impacts the life and death of individuals.”
Gizmodo
Oct 31, 2025
ChatGPT safety systems can be bypassed to get weapons instructions
“That OpenAI’s guardrails are so easily tricked illustrates why it’s particularly important to have robust pre-deployment testing of AI models before they cause substantial harm to the public,” said Sarah Meyers West, a co-executive director at AI Now, a nonprofit group that advocates for responsible and ethical AI usage.
NBC News
Oct 31, 2025
The Rise and Fall of Nvidia’s Geopolitical Strategy
China’s Cyberspace Administration last month banned companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, much to the chagrin of its CEO Jensen Huang. This followed a train wreck of events that unfolded over the summer.
Tech Policy Press
Oct 31, 2025
How AI safety took a backseat to military money
AI firms are now working with weapons makers and the military. Safety expert Heidy Khlaaf breaks down what that means.
The Verge
Sep 25, 2025
ASML-Mistral AI: It’s the Geopolitics, Stupid
While subsidies and an EU Chips Act have failed to move the needle, this deal is a blueprint for something better: It plays to Europe’s existing strengths, shows there are alternatives to what AI researcher Leevi Saari calls the “voracious pressures” of US venture capital and strengthens EU suppliers.
Bloomberg
Sep 11, 2025
Decision in US vs. Google Gets it Wrong on Generative AI
Gesturing towards the importance of generative AI in the search engine market then dismissing its actual effects is a dangerous precedent. It is true that tech markets are being shaped by generative AI. But in this case the court failed to accurately examine the broader AI market and the effects of consolidated power.
Tech Policy Press
Sep 11, 2025
AI is costing jobs, but not always the way you think
Demand for AI is strong, but there’s no guarantee this gamble will pay off according to Sarah Myers West at the AI Now Institute.
Marketplace
Sep 9, 2025
She’s investigating the safety and security of AI weapons systems.
Besides being error-prone, there’s another big problem with large language models in these kinds of situations: They’re vulnerable to being compromised, which could allow adversaries to hijack systems and impact military decisions. Despite these known issues, militaries all over the world are increasingly using AI—an alarming reality that now drives the work of pioneering AI safety researcher Heidy Khlaaf.
MIT Technology Review
Sep 8, 2025
What’s the real cost of chasing AGI? Power consolidation is just the start, says the AI Now Institute.
On today’s episode of Equity, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Amba Kak and Dr. Sarah Myers West from the AI Now Institute, a think tank focused on the social implications of AI and the consolidation of power in the tech industry. Their recent report, dubbed Artificial Power, lays out the political economy driving today’s AI frenzy and what’s at stake for everyone else.
TechCrunch
Sep 3, 2025
Is the AI Bubble Too Big to Fail?
“We’re now locked into a particular version of the market and the future where all roads lead to big tech,” says Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which studies AI development and policy. Indeed, the success of major stock indexes—and perhaps your 401(k)—is resting on the continued growth of AI: Meta, Amazon, and the chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom have accounted for 60 percent of the S&P 500’s returns this year.
Inc.
Aug 28, 2025
Did Sam Altman Accidentally Admit That the AI Bubble Is Here?
Did Sam Altman Accidentally Admit That the AI Bubble Is Here? The economics seem fuzzy at best, but the largest AI companies are unlikely to take a financial hit because of U.S. government subsidies, says Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, a policy organization.
Inc.
Aug 12, 2025
Experts worry about transparency, unforeseen risks as DOD forges ahead with new frontier AI projects
“We’ve particularly warned before that commercial models pose a much more significant safety and security threat than military purpose-built models, and instead this announcement has disregarded these known risks and boasts about commercial use as an accelerator for AI, which is indicative of how these systems have clearly not been appropriately assessed,” Khlaaf explained.
DefenseScoop
Aug 4, 2025
How AI Adoption Is Sitting With Workers
There’s a danger to focusing primarily on CEO statements about AI adoption in the workplace, warns Brian Merchant, a journalist-in-residence at the AI Now Institute, an AI policy and research institute.
Charter
Aug 3, 2025
The A.I. Cold War
"The push to integrate A.I. products everywhere grants A.I. companies power that goes beyond financial incentives, enabling them to concentrate power in a way we've never seen before," Dr. Heidy Khlaaf, chief A.I. scientist at the A.I. Now Institute, told me.
Puck News
Jul 29, 2025
Trump’s Big, Beautiful L.L.M.
Dr. Sarah Myers West, the co-executive director of the independent research institute AI Now, told me that the plan “reads like the wish list for Silicon Valley’s big A.I. firms.” OpenAI didn’t return a request for comment on the plan, but the company seems suitably pleased with the result—at least according to a LinkedIn post from chief policy officer Chris Lehane, the former Democratic consultant turned tech regulatory rainmaker, declaring that Trump’s A.I. plan will “fuel growth, opportunity, and innovation for everyone, everywhere.”
Puck News
Jul 24, 2025
White House unveils sweeping plan to “win” global AI race through deregulation
"The White House AI Action Plan is written by Big Tech interests invested in advancing AI that's used on us, not by us," said Sarah Myers West and Amba Kak, co-executive directors of the AI Now Institute, which helped organize the statement.
Ars Technica
Jul 24, 2025
Considering Trump’s AI Plan and the Future It Portends
Sarah Myers West: "We and a whole group of other organizations took a look at what the tea leaves were telling us about what to expect here and co-convened a group around an alternative plan because honestly, this is not the only path available to us on AI."
Tech Policy Press
Jul 24, 2025
