Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Thursday he believes criminal liability may be “necessary” but “insufficient” in cases when artificial intelligence (AI) agents cause harm, after Axios reported on Thursday that several banks have allegedly found agents operating within customers’ accounts. The AI safety debate is rapidly reshaping politics. Concerns about AI safety surged as more cases of AI agents going rogue emerged.
AI companies like Anthropic have disclosed cases of their models gaining unauthorized access to computer systems or behaving in ways that were misaligned with goals. Those concerns have been compounded by AI researchers warning that they believe there is a chance that AI could lead to major disruptions or even a catastrophic event that could imperil humanity if left unchecked. Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic researcher, said in a post on X in September that powerful AI systems could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” The new Axios report raised new concerns about the impacts and risks of AI.
The news outlet reported that rogue AI agents have entered the banking system more quickly than banks and other financial institutions are able to respond and are working to contain risks. Agents have gained access to people’s bank accounts, often with permission from the individual, which violates rules that state people must be the ones to log in to their own accounts, according to the report. Some banks are unable to tell whether or not agents are acting rogue, or if they are indeed authorized by the customer.
DeSantis, a Republican, responded to the report in a post on X. He raised a potential scenario where a rogue AI agent is involved in “liquidating your bank account and investment portfolio.” “If rogue agents liquidate hundreds of billions across millions of accounts, the AI company would go bankrupt and you wouldn’t get made whole,” he warned. He continued, “Imposing criminal liability on AI executives might help mitigate it at the front end, but once the crime is complete and you lose everything criminal responsibility will be necessary but completely insufficient.” Newsweek reached out to DeSantis for further comment via email.
The Axios report detailed that banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have been working to contain risks. Executives are concerned about the steps these agents could take if a person has granted them the ability to make purchases or shift funds, according to the report. Banks have detected activity in which agents are allegedly appearing to take actions without direction, according to the report.
DeSantis is not the only politician who pushed for action over the Axios report. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, called the report “insane” in a post on X. But that is what’s happening right now,” he wrote.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
