In the constantly-evolving tech world, there’s a new cultural divide splitting Silicon Valley in two: an ‘accelerationist’ or a ‘decel’.
The accelerationists want to speed up technological progress, especially related to artificial intelligence (AI). This group of entrepreneurs, investors and technologists have adopted the label “e/acc”, which stands for effective accelerationism.
Anyone who is standing in the way of progress is a decel. Those who have become convinced that AI development should decelerate for the safety of humanity are “safetypilled”.
The term “e/acc” is a reference to — and a rebuke of — effective altruism, a philanthropic movement that has, in recent years, become obsessed with making sure AI is built safely so that it doesn’t go rogue and obliterate humanity.
OpenAI transformed how the public thinks about AI a year ago with the launch of its hugely successful chatbot, ChatGPT, which has currently 100mn active users.
But the expulsion and swift reinstatement of Sam Altman as the leader of OpenAI, the AI startup he co-founded, was the culmination of a long-brewing clash of diverging worldviews.
On one side were the commercial ambitions of Altman and OpenAI’s major partner, Microsoft. On the other were board members who had concerns that AI could one day wipe out humanity.
That worry is one driver of the effective altruism movement.
Over the past decade, effective altruism has broadened its mission toward preventing future scenarios in which humans could go extinct, such as nuclear war and pandemics.
But e/accs don’t want to slow things down. The movement has some major supporters, including Y Combinator President Garry Tan and billionaire investor Marc Andreessen.
The Big Tech, despite its overarching global reach, is facing tough times with a widening trust deficit, both from the users and regulators.
The rise of technology superpowers like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has created new challenges for the competition watchdogs, which enforce antitrust laws around the world.
Data compiled by Bloomberg shows the Big Five made more than 600 acquisitions in the last decade worth more than $200bn.
The companies also have control over vast amounts of data about their customers, raising concerns about threats to privacy.
To be an e/acc is to declare oneself aggressively and unapologetically pro-tech. After years of public backlash against Big Tech companies — about misinformation, antitrust and data privacy — e/acc has become a rallying cry for a backlash to the backlash.
The leadership tumult at OpenAI has emboldened the e/accs. Many of them loudly denounced the company’s original board members and celebrated Sam Altman when he was reinstated as CEO.
The problematic has played out in several other arenas.
Google, for instance, has long advocated a slow and cautious AI approach, which made it look like a laggard when OpenAI made a splash with ChatGPT, despite more than a decade of investment and research into AI.
Artificial intelligence is the subject of regulatory reviews and consideration worldwide. Private companies and governmental bodies are in the process of negotiating how to mitigate the potential harms without stifling innovation.
“The thing I worry about most is humans losing capability” over the machines, says Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings in Bloomberg interview. “You need some override, some backdoor, some way that the system can be shut down.”
OpenAI recently said its board can choose to hold back the release of an AI model even if the company’s leadership has deemed it safe. It’s another sign of the AI startup empowering its directors to bolster safeguards for developing the cutting-edge technology.
In a wider sense, the widening tech divide reflects the bigger debate over AI with the schism over the pace of commercialisation.