Cybersecurity & Tech

Lawfare Daily: Jonathan Zittrain on Controlling AI Agents

Jonathan Zittrain, Kevin Frazier, Jen Patja
Thursday, October 17, 2024, 8:00 AM
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Jonathan Zittrain, Faculty Director of the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law, joins Kevin Frazier, Assistant Professor at St. Thomas University College of Law and a Tarbell Fellow at Lawfare, to dive into his recent Atlantic article, “We Need to Control AI Agents Now.” The pair discuss what distinguishes AI agents from current generative AI tools and explore the sources of Jonathan’s concerns. They also talk about potential ways of realizing the control desired by Zittrain. For those eager to dive further into the AI agent weeds, Zittrain mentioned this CSET report, which provides a thorough exploration into the promises and perils of this new step in AI’s development. You may also want to explore “Visibility into AI Agents,” penned by Alan Chan et al. 

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Jonathan Zittrain

Jonathan Zittrain

@zittrain
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Jonathan Zittrain is the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Director of the Harvard Law School Library, and Co-Founder of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. His research interests include the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence; battles for control of digital property; the regulation of cryptography; new privacy frameworks for loyalty to users of online services; the roles of intermediaries with in Internet architecture; and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education. He is currently focused on the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence and teaches a course on the topic. His book, "The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It", predicted the end of general purpose client computing and the corresponding rise of new gatekeepers.

His writing here and elsewhere represents his individual, independent views.
Kevin Frazier

Kevin Frazier

@ kevintfrazier
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Kevin Frazier is an Assistant Professor at St. Thomas University College of Law and Senior Research Fellow in the Constitutional Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin. He is writing for Lawfare as a Tarbell Fellow.
Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.

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