2026-07-21
6 分钟The Economist.
Hello, Alice Fullwood here, co-host of Money Talks, our weekly podcast on markets, the economy and business.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Thanks for listening.
The world's artificial intelligence superpowers are beginning to throw their weight around.
The American government's short-lived decision to withhold foreigners' access to Fable,
a whizzy AI model from Anthropic, reflected not just a desire for control over the technology,
but also fear of the dangers it could pose in the wrong hands.
Now China is said to be considering curbing overseas access to its most advanced models.
Yet for AI to be harnessed safely, the industry needs a plan that is coherent and predictable.
Sir Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google DeepMind, thinks he has one.
Sir Demis has sketched out proposals for AI regulation in the past.
His latest attempt, published online on July 14th and elaborated in an interview with The Economist, is more concrete.
The American government, he says,
should develop a system for testing the safety of new AI models before they are released.
It's important that it's not just an industry body, he adds.
But a regular government agency wouldn't do either.
It would not be able to move fast enough or have the right resources.
Instead, Sir Demis suggests taking inspiration from FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority,