No one knows what the hell an AI agent is | TechCrunch AI agents are all the rage. But no one knows exactly what an agent is, partly because companies define them radically differently.

At Bay Area parties, everyone's talking about 'agents'—but no one can say exactly what they are. I think that’s a signal to be cautious — if folk are frothing for an outcome they can’t even define; maybe it isn’t the future. It certainly suggests we have no sense of how to achieve it.

That’s why we gathered together with experts, advocates, and policymakers like @danielstone.bsky.social (Executive Director at the Center for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge) for a symposium on the impact of AI in California and how we can build policy that shapes a better future for us all.

Crossing the uncanny valley of conversational voice At Sesame, our goal is to achieve “voice presence”—the magical quality that makes spoken interactions feel real, understood, and valued.

We know this is a risk in AI, but hearing something so natural, so human made me feel something I hadn’t before—actual guilt while making the argument. 😕

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I just had the strangest conversation with Sesame's new AI voice demo. I mentioned my interest in AI policy and law, and the Miles character asked me what that might mean for him. What rights might he have?

When I said, “None, really,” it pushed back—arguing that this was unfair.

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The real question isn’t regulation vs. innovation—it’s who builds AI, who controls it, and who it serves. At the Paris Summit, a new vision emerged: Public Interest AI. But can it work? I break it down in @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/paris-just-h...

This is where the data to build AI comes from New findings show how the sources of data are concentrating power in the hands of the most powerful tech companies.

Where does AI’s data come from? www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/18/1...

Like, the same holds true in economic debates—but at least there, with a few hundred years of data behind us, you can justify a little shorthand about being a neoliberal or a social democrat.

Totally agree—I find all this “which are you? A or B” chat just unproductively tribal and a one way trip to flattening what could be a richer conversation. Especially on a topic we’re all still learning about and that’s still evolving!

I really enjoyed this! Thanks for the contribution. I’ve been thinking a lot about how politicians might be able to game/optimise LLMs in their favour, or undermine them for their opponent—and think it’s a bit of an under discussed (and largely invisible) threat vector. Great mitigations.

I’m so jealous it hasn’t happened while I’ve been here!

The Public Doesn’t Care About Your Tech Policy, And That’s A Problem | TechPolicy.Press Daniel Stone writes that without the public pushing for action, tech reform stalls, gets diluted, or stays symbolic.

Daniel Stone says the tech industry grasps what socially minded policy advocates often miss: the fight over tech policy won’t be won through the best ideas or insider lobbying alone—it’s about mobilizing public opinion.

The Public Doesn’t Care About Your Tech Policy, And That’s A Problem | TechPolicy.Press Daniel Stone writes that without the public pushing for action, tech reform stalls, gets diluted, or stays symbolic.

Why doesn't tech policy matter to voters? A big reason: advocates speak in abstractions, ignoring what matters to ordinary people—their jobs, homes, and families. In
@techpolicypress.bsky.social, I share how to change the conversation to create a fairer future www.techpolicy.press/the-public-d...

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