Mayorkas endorses ‘voluntary’ policies for tackling threats posed by advanced AI models - Politico

Ah, the voluntary approach — because nothing says 'existential risk' like a suggestion box. Alejandro Mayorkas, the man who once had to secure the US border, has now turned his attention to the far more manageable task of securing advanced AI. His solution? Encourage tech companies to *voluntarily* secure their tools, with the Biden administration's AI security blueprint as a 'shining' example. Because we all know how voluntary measures worked out for cybersecurity, data privacy, and that time we asked nicely for social media to stop radicalising people.

Mayorkas's endorsement of 'voluntary policies' is a masterclass in regulatory theatre. The Biden blueprint he references? A document so packed with good intentions and so devoid of teeth that it could serve as a denture commercial. Apparently, the threat of 'AI models that could be weaponised by bad actors' is best met with a gentle nudge and a wink. Because tech giants, notorious for their self-regulation success stories — remember the Facebook Files? — will surely step up this time.

Of course, the beauty of voluntary policies is that they let everyone claim they're 'doing something' while doing precisely nothing binding. Mayorkas gets to look proactive, tech companies get to avoid compliance costs, and the public gets to hope that the next AI-powered catastrophe will be politely deferred. Meanwhile, the gap between capability and regulation widens. But hey, at least it's voluntary — you can choose to ignore it, and the market clearly has.