Monument

And a powered exoskeleton equipped with lasers.

My org saw AI as a threat and immediately banned it (blocking websites and restricting features in apps) until our IT folks could evaluate it and implement safeguards. Incidentally, they missed the window when vendors were more or less offering it for free. Now any AI solution doesn’t just have to be vetted against our security and privacy needs, but most likely requires a darn good business case, RFP’s, quotes, and contracts.

It never became a part of the culture here, much to our benefit.

Tangentially related - the companies calling for AI regulation:

1. Want other their competition regulated, but not them - because within a year the barrier to entry will be low enough that most decent tech companies can compete at their level.
2. Want to set and create the regulatory framework for what’s allowable, so they can bury or buy their upstart competition, in much the same way that companies do in any regulatory capture situation. (Think utility companies, and major industries, like Samsung in SK or GM in the US.)
3. Want to prevent companies that aren’t (or haven’t become) proxies for the government from developing capacity that would lead to discussions around banning the technology’s less legal uses. If any AI model can facilitate war crimes, then the technology may get banned. If they can say “oh, that model was using the technology in banned ways,” then they can keep hiring IT people with government clearances to try to get multibillion dollar government contracts. It’s a thin paper shield, but it’ll prevent them from getting shut down when someone uses AI to facilitate non-state terror attacks.

I’m weirdly disappointed the real product has a gem in the base.

Many years ago, before Walgreens started selling sex toys in store, I bought a hitachi magic wand from them. (This was before their mainstream adoption as a sex toy, and they were not labeled as such on their site. They were significantly cheaper there than at places selling them as sex toys.)

But to your point - many believable lies contain plausible truths.