Michelle Nie

CalCompute: California's Chance to Democratize AI New public compute project could change the game for California’s AI innovation ecosystem, but the rules must be set carefully

I wrote a piece on my new rebranded Substack, Cloud Nine, on the importance of CalCompute (public computing initiative created by the passage of California SB53) and the importance of getting it right – by preventing industry capture & ensuring it is governed in an environmentally sustainable manner

Great article by @megafreda.bsky.social! Thanks for the shoutout for my cloud work w/ @openmarkets.bsky.social (w/ @maxvonthun.bsky.social and @danielahanley.bsky.social)

Authored a piece with @theodoraskeadas.bsky.social, @nickgarcia.bsky.social, and @elisephillips.bsky.social on the urgent need for the cloud to be a public utility. We're forming a coalition of state legislators who won't let such crucial infrastructure remain under Big Tech control - join us today!

Excited to have another article out on @techpolicypress.bsky.social about the cloud and what the EU can do to challenge Big Tech dominance, including investing in a cloud marketplace and treating the cloud as a public utility.

NEW Report | Engineering the Cloud Commons: Tackling Monopoly Control of Critical Digital Infrastructure — Open Markets Institute Open Markets Institute report, “Engineering the Cloud Commons: A Blueprint for Resilient, Secure, and Open Digital Infrastructure,” offers a long-overdue reconception of cloud computing as a single ...

🚨 New Report: “Engineering the Cloud Commons” 🚨

Today @openmarkets.bsky.social published a major new report, co-authored by myself and colleagues, on regulating and restructuring the critical cloud infrastructure currently dominated by Big Tech 🧵

www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

WEBINAR: Engineering the Cloud Commons: Tackling Monopoly Control of Critical Digital Infrastructure — Open Markets Institute Join us for a webinar on May 15, 2025 09:00 AM EST to explore how concentrated corporate control over cloud infrastructure threatens competition, innovation, and national security—and what bold step...

Growing market concentration in cloud computing undermines the goals of resilient, open and fair digital infrastructure on which we're building AI and more.

Join our webinar next Thursday to how to address it: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Copyright Office thinks AI companies sometimes stole content : Some see an action to benefit Elon. The White House sees an agency obsessed with DEI

And the head of the US Copyright Office was fired the next day after the long-anticipated release of this report, which confirmed what everyone already knew: that AI companies are violating the fair use doctrine.

Coded for privileged access | Corporate Europe Observatory The EU is developing a Code of Practice to govern general purpose AI, as part of the implementation of the AI Act. But Big Tech has heavily influenced the process to successfully weaken the Code.

The EU is set to finalise the rules that will govern advanced AI.

🧐 New research together with @lobbycontrol.bsky.social reveals:

⚠️ Big Tech enjoys privileged access to drafting the Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI

⚠️ A glaring conflict of interest

👇 corporateeurope.org/en/2025/04/c...

OMB guidance: Vendor Lock-In Protections. As described identified during solicitation development, terms on this subject are necessary to reduce the risk that switching vendors could become cost-prohibitive. Protections against vendor lock-in can vary, but include requirements for vendor knowledge transfers, data and model portability, providing agencies with rights to code and models produced in performance of a contract, and transparency in licensing and pricing. .. E. Ongoing Testing and Monitoring. Contractual terms must provide the contracting agency the ability to regularly monitor and evaluate (e.g., on a quarterly or biannual basis, based on the needs of the program) performance, risks, and effectiveness of an AI system or service.

The White House OMB recently released a memorandum providing guidance on procurement of AI. Although more focused on American AI leadership than the previous memo, notably, it directs agencies to avoid vendor lock-in and to be able to regularly evaluate performance, risks, and
effectiveness.

Google's latest Gemini 2.5 Pro AI model is missing a key safety report in apparent violation of promises the company made to the U.S. government and at international summits Experts say Google and other top AI labs reneging on promises to inform the public about the capabilities and risks their AI models present

"Responsible research means that you are open about the capabilities of the system. If this was a plane, we wouldn’t say: bring this to market ASAP, we will look into safety later. With genAI there’s an attitude of putting it out there & worrying & fixing issues later" fortune.com/2025/04/09/g...

DOGE has arrived at the FTC The agency oversees businesses like Elon Musk’s X.

DOGE has arrived at the FTC

Directly elected judges are not a good idea.

But let us take our pleasures when we can.

The winning judge’s speech is a boon you need at this otherwise dreadful time.

If things turn, this is how they start.

The Corner Newsletter: Undersea Cables as Critical Infrastructure ( March 28th, 2025) — Open Markets Institute In this issue, we explore underseas cables and who controls this critical infrastructure amid Meta’s proposal to build the world’s longest.

ICYMI: "Meta’s Foray Into Undersea Cables Raises Questions Over Critical Infrastructure," by our tech policy fellow @michellenie.bsky.social: 🌊🌊

www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

The FTC's outrageous assault on consumer protection wipes out 4 years of critical information on AI oversight and landmark privacy cases against #BigTech, making Americans less safe and putting corporate interests before the public interest.

Trump Fires Democrats on Federal Trade Commission The decision to fire the two members of the traditionally independent regulatory body is likely to face a legal challenge.

The tech coup
continues ↘️ www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/t...

Barry Lynn's statement on Trump's illegal, unconstitutional attempt to fire FTC Commissioners Bedoya and Slaughter.

"[H]e has chosen to put the interests of the oligarch and all-powerful corporation first, and the interests of every other American last."

FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya: "This opens the door for a law enforcement apparatus that is controlled not by the law, but by money."

Absolutely right.

Statement from Open Markets: Donald Trump Attempts to Fire Democratic FTC Commissioners Bedoya and Slaughter — Open Markets Institute Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn released a statement concerning the news that President Trump has moved to fire Democratically-appointed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners Alv...

President Trump’s illegal, unconstitutional attempt to fire FTC Cmrs. Slaughter & Bedoya makes abundantly clear that he is not interested in protecting the liberty & economic wellbeing of the American people... www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

FTC Removes Posts Critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and AI Companies Business-guidance content published during the Biden administration has been removed from the Federal Trade Commission website.

They are weaponizing the FTC, an independent, bipartisan agency, and this is an outrage. www.wired.com/story/federa...

🚨 New publication alert 🚨

Europe needs to double down, not back down in response to brazen efforts by Big Tech and the US government to overthrow its digital sovereignty. In a new report by @openmarkets.bsky.social, @epc-official.bsky.social and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, we set out how.

1/5 🧵

Governments Need to Protect AI Industry Whistleblowers: Here’s How Introduction  In 2009, James Glenn, a security consultant for a Cisco distribution partner, submitted a detailed report to Cisco regarding cybersecurity flaws in its video surveillance systems…

Recent high-profile exits from frontier AI labs highlight the urgent need for better whistleblower protections. My latest for AI Policy Bulletin examines current laws in the US, EU & UK and how they can be adapted for AI workers facing unique industry challenges and career risks.

Proud to have contributed to this submission with @cjl4news.bsky.social and @openmarkets.bsky.social to urge the UK government to prioritize its flourishing creative industries over the profits of the AI industry.

Stop calling him (Vice) President Musk. Don’t legitimize the power of an unelected billionaire corporate leader.

What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.

Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

If it did turn out to be legal for the President to sign a piece of paper saying "only I get to say what the law is" then, like, probably shouldn't have taken Godel to notice that little loophole tbh

Cristiano Lima-Strong Joins Tech Policy Press as Associate Editor | TechPolicy.Press Lima-Strong joins a growing international team of editors and reporting fellows.

Tech Policy Press is thrilled to announce that Cristiano Lima-Strong will join as Associate Editor, a full-time position on the masthead. He joins a growing international team of editors and reporting fellows exploring how tech is challenging and reshaping democracies and governance globally.

POLITICO article by Pieter Haeck, Tom Bristow, Océane Herr Headline: How the world stopped worrying and learned to love AI Subtitle: Politicians have shifted from AI regulation to innovation — and the industry loves it. PARIS — World leaders aren’t worried that artificial intelligence will make humanity extinct or be misused by terrorists. They seemed much more concerned about not winning the global AI race when they met at the AI Action Summit in Paris this week. French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, India’s Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the United Kingdom’s tech secretary Peter Kyle all focused on innovation and investment in their speeches at the event. Safety fears, top of mind at two previous AI summits in the U.K. and South Korea, barely featured. The final summit declaration mentioned safety only three times. The United States and the U.K. didn’t even sign the final declaration. Instead, politicians touted massive investments and promised light regulation. “I’m not here to talk about AI safety, I’m here to talk about AI opportunity,” Vance said. “This summit is focused on action, and that’s exactly what we need right now,” added von der Leyen, before announcing the roll-out of a multi-billion euro investment plan.

Dystopian headlines from today. From Politico (viewable with Pro access): pro.politico.eu/news/193828

NEW: As world leaders gather for the Paris AI Summit, I hope we're reaching a turning point, towards a "new politics of AI". Politicians should not just accelerate AI, but they also need to actively steer it towards social good. (1/8)

This is the new American national anthem

Paris AI Summit Could Be Leaders’ Chance to Manage AI Risks The Paris AI Summit could be a turning point for global AI governance.

“In the United States there are currently more safety requirements for selling a sandwich than for developing AI systems.” Crucial and timely commentary from SaferAI’s Henry Papadatos and Chloé Touzet.

time.com/7213772/pari...