FTC主席質疑AI反壟斷豁免呼聲

喬迪・戈多伊報導By Jody Godoy

華盛頓，9月15日（路透社）——美國聯邦貿易委員會（FTC）主席週二表示，AI公司一方面遊說制定新規範，另一方面又尋求反壟斷豁免，「所有人都應該高度懷疑」。WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday that "everyone should be deeply suspicious" about AI companies seeking antitrust exemptions while they also lobby for new regulations.

FTC主席安德魯・佛格森（Andrew Ferguson）表示，他是在表達個人意見，並未直接點名Anthropic。該公司執行長上週呼籲，基於安全疑慮，應允許競爭對手協調放慢AI發展步調，並給予反壟斷許可。FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said he was expressing his personal opinion, and did not directly name Anthropic, whose CEO last week called for antitrust permission to enable rivals to coordinate a slower pace to AI development due to safety concerns.

大眾對人工智慧可能構成危險的憂慮日益升高。Anthropic研究員雅各布・科克森（Jacob Coxon）上週表示，他已辭職，部分原因是「打造AI的人真誠地相信，AI可能在本十年結束前殺死我們所有人」。Public alarm about the potential danger posed by artificial intelligence is growing, after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said last week he had resigned, in part because the "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

佛格森的談話，是外界首次從公開訊息看出川普政府如何看待Anthropic為合作降低這項風險而爭取反壟斷豁免的訴求，也凸顯AI監管有時被視為大型科技公司用來牽制競爭對手的工具。Ferguson's comments are the first public indication of how the Trump administration views Anthropic's bid for an antitrust exemption to collaborate on mitigating that risk, and highlight how AI regulation is sometimes perceived as a tool large tech companies use to hamstring rivals.

佛格森是在華盛頓喬治城大學（Georgetown University）一場活動上發表上述談話。他表示，總統唐納・川普（Donald Trump）將制定聯邦政府的AI政策。Ferguson made the comments at an event at Georgetown University in Washington. He said President Donald Trump would set AI policy for the federal government.

他說：「不過，概括而言，如果企業同時到華盛頓要求一連串規範和反壟斷豁免，我所有警鐘都會響起。」"I will say generally, though, that if companies are simultaneously coming to Washington and asking for a host of regulations and an antitrust exemption, all of my alarm bells go off," he said.

他補充說：「他們是在要求設置進入障礙，以保護既有業者地位不受挑戰。我認為，如果再加上他們所要求的反壟斷豁免，所有人都應該對此高度懷疑。」"They're asking for barriers to entry that will insulate their incumbency from challenge. And I think if you combine that with the requested antitrust exemption, everyone should be deeply suspicious about this," he added.

彭博報導，OpenAI首席遊說代表克里斯・勒海恩（Chris Lehane）表示，該公司數週來一直與競爭對手Anthropic及Alphabet旗下Google合作處理AI安全議題；他並表示，他不認為這3家公司討論安全問題需要反壟斷豁免。OpenAI's top lobbyist Chris Lehane said the company has been working with rivals Anthropic and Alphabet's Google on AI safety for several weeks, and said he did not see the need for an antitrust waiver for the three companies to talk about safety, Bloomberg reported.

Anthropic執行長達里奧・阿莫代伊（Dario Amodei）週五呼籲，有意放慢AI發展，並豁免通常禁止競爭對手合作的規定。他說，AI代理程式最快可能在6個月內具備關閉網際網路的能力，造成數十億美元損失。Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on Friday for an intentional slowdown of AI development, and for an exemption to usual prohibitions on competitors working together. AI agents could become capable of shutting down the internet in as soon as six months, causing billions of dollars in damage, he said.

他寫道，美國政府將「需要針對某些類型的安全對話發布一項範圍有限的豁免」。The U.S. government would "need to issue a narrow waiver for certain kinds of safety conversations," he wrote.

反壟斷專家和部分規模較小的競爭對手批評這項提案，表示現行法律原則已可適用於這種情況，並允許各方為防止災難性風險而進行協調。Antitrust experts and some smaller competitors criticized the proposal, saying there are already legal doctrines that would apply in this situation and allow for coordination on preventing catastrophic risk.

數名專家指出，美國反壟斷主管機關過去曾發表聲明，表示企業之間分享網路安全資訊，在反壟斷法下是被允許的。Several experts pointed to a past statement by U.S. antitrust authorities saying that information sharing among companies on cybersecurity is allowed under antitrust law.

部分業界人士也批評這項計畫。加拿大AI公司Cohere共同創辦人艾丹・戈梅茲（Aidan Gomez）週日在一篇部落格文章中稱，這是「矽谷既有業者近期一連串企圖形塑AI相關監管環境的最新行動」。Some industry participants also criticized the plan. Aidan Gomez, co-founder of Canadian AI company Cohere, called it the "latest in a string of recent efforts by Silicon Valley incumbents to shape the regulatory landscape surrounding AI," in a blog post on Sunday.

圍繞AI的監管辯論中，充斥著企業支持會絆倒競爭對手的規範之類的指控。Regulatory debate on AI has been rife with accusations of companies supporting regulation that would trip up their competitors.

戈梅茲寫道：「如果這是人類史上最具影響力的科技，那麼它的規則就不能由一小群商業利益一致的企業，在反壟斷豁免的掩護下制定。」"If this is the most consequential technology in human history, then the rules for it cannot be written by a small group of commercially aligned companies behind an antitrust waiver," Gomez wrote.

（喬迪・戈多伊華盛頓報導；野見山千鶴、比爾・伯克羅特編輯）(Reporting by Jody Godoy in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)