Why the AI Policy Debate Should Focus More on the Harness and Protocol Layers

About this episode

Raffi Krikorian discusses the importance of focusing on ownership versus renting in the AI policy debate.

Raffi Krikorian , the chief technology officer of Mozilla, has spent the past few months building an argument that the central question in AI isn't open versus closed, but owning versus renting—whether AI becomes something we control or something we lease from a handful of companies. A technologist by background with stops at Twitter, Uber, and the Democratic National Committee, he writes about all of this in his newsletter, Owners Not Renters , and in other outlets, most recently in a New York Times op-ed on what he called the "Mythos moment." Justin Hendrix spoke to him about the idea that generosity is the hidden infrastructure of the internet, how to expand access to powerful AI tools rather than closing it down for security's sake, how to overcome misaligned incentives to build a better information environment, how to counter surveillance, and why those concerned with AI governance should spend more time thinking about the protocol and harness layers.

People in this episode

Host: Justin Hendrix

Guest: Raffi Krikorian

Topics covered

• AI policy
• technology governance
• information environment
• access to AI tools
• surveillance
• protocol layers

Keywords

• AI governance
• Mozilla
• information access
• surveillance
• protocol layers
• technology policy
• Raffi Krikorian

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mozilla, Twitter, Uber, Democratic National Committee

Books & works: Owners Not Renters, New York Times

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