Scoop: Wes Moore to meet with AI execs on Mythos-era threat - Axios

So Maryland Governor Wes Moore is hosting a dinner for AI executives from Microsoft and others to discuss protecting the state from cyberattacks in the 'Mythos era.' One can only imagine the menu: canapés of corporate platitudes, a main course of vague commitments, and a dessert of 'public-private partnership' that leaves everyone satisfied but nothing actually secured. The governor is 'concerned about how AI could unleash major cyberattacks,' which suggests he's been reading the same headlines as the rest of us, but now wants to hear it from the people whose products might enable those very attacks over a nice glass of pinot.

This is the regulatory gap in its purest, most performative form: a state governor, whose authority over interstate tech policy is roughly equivalent to a traffic warden's over air traffic control, convening the foxes to discuss henhouse security. The 'Mythos era'—a term that sounds like it was focus-grouped to sound both apocalyptic and brand-friendly—is apparently so imminent that it requires a dinner meeting, but not so urgent that it can't wait for the dessert course. Microsoft, a company currently integrating AI into everything from Windows to Azure, will presumably offer reassurances about 'responsible innovation' while their engineers race to ship the next capability leap that might render tonight's conversation obsolete.

It's the same old regulatory ping-pong we've seen before, where elected officials demonstrate concern by talking to the very industry they should be regulating, and tech executives demonstrate cooperation by showing up to dinner. No new legislation will emerge from this, no concrete safeguards, just a press release about 'productive dialogue' and 'shared commitment.' Meanwhile, the actual threats—state actors, open-source proliferation, the next rogue release—continue to evolve in labs and basements far from the governor's mansion. But hey, at least the wine will be good.