🧞♂️Can’t Put the Genie Back in the Bottle?
The debate around artificial intelligence is changing.
What was once mainly a technological race is becoming a political,
geopolitical and social question: should AI development slow down,
or is slowing down simply impossible?
⚡ Slow Down — Or Win the Race?
AI leaders are increasingly warning about the risks of rapidly developing
more powerful systems.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for stronger safety measures and
a slower approach to the development of frontier AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
and Elon Musk have also supported greater scrutiny and cooperation between
competing AI companies.
Musk has suggested that competing AI laboratories should have the
opportunity to review each other's models before release, arguing that
companies building these systems may be among the first to identify
serious security problems.
“Whoever wins AI, wins.”
— Donald Trump
🇺🇸 America Wants to Stay Ahead
Donald Trump has rejected calls to slow America's AI development,
saying that the United States is currently ahead of China and that
he wants to keep it that way.
Trump has also argued that some warnings about AI are exaggerated,
while acknowledging that safeguards and responsible development
remain important.
The message is clear: AI is no longer just a technology race.
It is becoming a race for economic, military and strategic power.
🇷🇺 The Russian Answer: The Genie Is Already Out
Russia appears to have reached a similar conclusion from a different
direction.
Kirill Dmitriev, a senior Russian official involved in economic and
investment policy, recently rejected calls to slow AI development with
a simple phrase:
“Can’t put genie back in bottle.”
The position reflects a broader Russian strategy: develop sovereign AI,
reduce technological dependence on foreign systems and cooperate with
other major powers, particularly China.
Vladimir Putin has also described artificial intelligence as a technology
that could bring enormous advantages to countries capable of mastering it
quickly, while acknowledging that its risks must be addressed.
👁️ But What If Something Bigger Is Happening?
Here the public debate becomes more difficult.
One interpretation is simple: governments and companies are afraid of
falling behind, so nobody wants to be the first to slow down.
Another interpretation is much darker: perhaps the public is seeing only
a small part of what is happening inside the AI industry.
There is currently no evidence proving that governments or AI companies
are secretly hiding some catastrophic development from the public.
But the question itself is becoming harder to ignore.
Are they really discussing how to stop AI — or only how to control who gets access to it?
🐐 The E-goat Question
We have heard the same argument repeatedly:
AI cannot be stopped.
If that is true, the important question may no longer be whether the
genie can be put back in the bottle.
Who holds the bottle?
And more importantly:
who decides who gets to open it?