As I was scrolling through the Financial Times (as one does), one article caught my eye: "Google and peers weigh an AI Prisoner's Dilemma". At this point in the semester, seeing the words "Prisoner" and "Dilemma" in any form together warrants my attention, and this article did not disappoint. The author argued that companies like Meta and Google are experiencing a prisoner's dilemma, because although the companies would be better off working together to develop AI, they still choose to compete separately. With trillions of dollars in potential value to be gained from AI, these companies want it all to themselves and thus compete and research AI separately.
While there certainly is a prisoner's dilemma regarding AI development, I think the article is missing another prisoner's dilemma that may occur in a few years. Although there certainly is real value to be had if firms work together to develop a strong functioning AI model, I believe another prisoner's dilemma may occur with pricing. If firms can collaborate on prices, they can charge much higher than with competition. With trillions predicted in a competitive market, the amount of money firms can make together would be astronomical. It remains to be seen if firms will go down this route, but if AI companies can band together, their profits will go through the roof.
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