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Draft:Sunny Gandhi

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Sunny Gandhi (born 2002) is an Indian-American activist and advocate for safe and equitable artificial intelligence. He serves as the Vice President of Political Affairs at Encode Justice, a youth-led organization focused on promoting human-centric AI development and governance.

Early life and education

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Gandhi attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, where he participated in congressional debate. During his time in the program, he achieved a ranking of 3rd at the National Speech and Debate Tournament[1] and was part of the 2019 Illinois All-State Congressional Debate Team.[2] Gandhi graduated in May 2020.[3]

Gandhi subsequently attended Indiana University, where he studied Computer Science and graduated summa cum laude.[4] While at Indiana University, Gandhi worked on developing an AI system designed to analyze legal documents using natural language processing, with the goal of improving access to legal resources.[5] He graduated in 2024.

While at Indiana, Gandhi completed internships in technical roles at NASA and Deloitte.[6][7] Additionally, he co-authored several academic papers,[8][9] including LegalBench, a project evaluating legal reasoning capabilities in large language models.[10]

Activism

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Gandhi has been actively involved in AI safety and ethics advocacy. He serves as the Vice President of Political Affairs at Encode Justice, a youth-led organization focused on making AI safer and more equitable.[11]

In October 2023, Gandhi co-authored an open letter with the Future of Life Institute calling for the implementation of concrete US policies to address current and future harms of AI.[12] The letter advocated for the creation of a federal oversight body to monitor and regulate advanced AI systems.

Gandhi was a key contributor to "AI 2030," a sweeping call to action launched by Encode Justice in May 2024.[13] The initiative outlined concrete steps for policymakers and corporations to take by 2030 to protect lives, rights, and livelihoods as AI continues to scale.[14][15] Notable signatories of AI 2030 included former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Turing Award recipient Yoshua Bengio, Max Tegmark, Margaret Mitchell, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Gandhi has written op-eds and articles on AI regulation and safety. In a May 2024 Fortune article, he argued for urgent AI regulation, stating, "We are effectively being asked to trust that big technology firms such as OpenAI and Google will properly self-regulate as they roll out their products with world-altering potential and little to no transparency."[16] He highlighted the potential risks of unchecked AI development, noting, "Consider Google DeepMind's AlphaGo, an AI system trained to expertly play Go, a complex strategy game. When AlphaGo competed against human champions, it made moves never before seen in the game's 4,000-year history. The strategies were so alien that its own creators did not understand its reasoning—and yet it beat top players repeatedly."[17]

Gandhi has also countered arguments against AI regulation, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to ensure responsible AI development.[18][19]

SB 1047 advocacy

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Gandhi has been a key advocate for California Senate Bill 1047 (SB 1047), also known as the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act in his capacity as co-sponsor on behalf of Encode Justice.[20][21] He has testified multiple times in the California legislature in support of the bill and has been vocal about its importance.[22] The bill passed the legislature with bipartisan support in August 2024, aiming to enact safeguards to protect society from potential misuse of advanced AI systems.[23][24][25]

SB 1047 would require developers of the most advanced AI systems to test their models for the ability to cause critical harm and implement common-sense guardrails to help mitigate risks. The legislation would cover only the most powerful AI systems, costing over $100 million to train.[26][27]

In response to criticism from some U.S. House Democrats regarding SB 1047,[28] including former Congressional House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,[29][30] Gandhi authored a rebuttal letter.[31] He rejected the framing of safety versus innovation, arguing instead for a collaborative approach: "What we really need is a 'both/and' approach to risk mitigation." Gandhi emphasized the need to address both immediate and long-term AI risks, stating, "We continue to work on issues such as regulating non-consensual pornographic deepfakes, remedying civil liberty violations, and setting standards on the use of AI in warfare."

Notable supporters of SB 1047 include Turing Award recipients Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, as well as prominent figures in the tech industry such as Elon Musk[32] and Vitalik Buterin.[33] Gandhi has highlighted the broad public support for the bill, citing polling that found 77% of likely California voters support SB 1047,[34] with high levels of bipartisan support.[35]

Throughout his advocacy, Gandhi has consistently emphasized the importance of balancing innovation with safety, arguing that responsible AI development is crucial for realizing the technology's potential benefits while mitigating its risks.

References

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  1. ^ "National Speech and Debate Tournament Results" (PDF).
  2. ^ https://s3.amazonaws.com/tabroom-files/tourns/12055/postings/15693/IHSAState2019summary.pdf
  3. ^ https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1590083901/d125org/fpggabdwk5mkopkzf9jr/WebsiteVersionCommencementProgram.pdf
  4. ^ "Indiana University Bloomington One Hundred Ninety-Fifth Commencement" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Sunny Gandhi".
  6. ^ "Sunny Gandhi". Encode Justice. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  7. ^ https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/facilities/gvis/interns/archive/
  8. ^ Laszewski, Gregor von; Orlowski, Anthony; Otten, Richard H.; Markowitz, Reilly; Gandhi, Sunny; Chai, Adam; Fox, Geoffrey C.; Chang, Wo L. (July 2021). "Using Cloudmesh GAS for Speedy Generation of Hybrid Multi-Cloud Auto Generated AI Services". 2021 IEEE 45th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC). IEEE. pp. 144–155. doi:10.1109/COMPSAC51774.2021.00032. ISBN 978-1-6654-2463-9.
  9. ^ Aiyappa, Rachith; DeVerna, Matthew R.; Pote, Manita; Truong, Bao Tran; Zhao, Wanying; Axelrod, David; Pessianzadeh, Aria; Kachwala, Zoher; Kim, Munjung; Seckin, Ozgur Can; Kim, Minsuk; Gandhi, Sunny; Manikonda, Amrutha; Pierri, Francesco; Menczer, Filippo (2023-06-02). "A Multi-Platform Collection of Social Media Posts about the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections". Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. 17: 981–989. doi:10.1609/icwsm.v17i1.22205. ISSN 2334-0770.
  10. ^ "Home". LegalBench. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  11. ^ "Who We Are". Encode Justice. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  12. ^ "AI Licensing for a Better Future: On Addressing Both Present Harms and Emerging Threats". Future of Life Institute. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  13. ^ "AI 2030 | Encode Justice". AI 2030 | Encode Justice. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  14. ^ Lima-Strong, Cristiano (May 16, 2024). "Youth activists call on world leaders to set AI safeguards by 2030". Washington Post.
  15. ^ "Five demands: student activists are pushing governments on safe AI use by 2030". South China Morning Post. 2024-05-21. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  16. ^ Gandhi, Sunny. "AI regulation isn't happening fast enough—and for Gen Zers like me our future is on the line". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  17. ^ Gandhi, Sunny. "AI regulation isn't happening fast enough—and for Gen Zers like me our future is on the line". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  18. ^ Commentary, Guest (2024-08-05). "California shouldn't buy Big Tech talking point that AI regulation will hurt innovation". CalMatters. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  19. ^ CALmatters.org, CalMatters | (2024-08-13). "Why Silicon Valley is trying so hard to kill this AI bill in California". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  20. ^ https://apcp.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/sb-1047-wiener-apcp-analysis_0.pdf
  21. ^ "In a Bipartisan Vote, Senate Passes Senator Wiener's Landmark AI Safety and Innovation Bill". Senator Scott Wiener. 2024-05-21. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  22. ^ "Sunny Gandhi | Digital Democracy". digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  23. ^ "Senator Wiener's Landmark AI Bill Heads to the Governor". Senator Scott Wiener. 2024-08-29. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  24. ^ Kang, Cecilia (2024-08-28). "California Legislature Approves Bill Proposing Sweeping A.I. Restrictions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  25. ^ "California SB1047 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session". LegiScan. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  26. ^ "Bill Text - SB-1047 Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  27. ^ "California's SB 1047 Would Impose New Safety Requirements for Developers of Large-Scale AI Models". www.morganlewis.com. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  28. ^ https://democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2024-08-15%20to%20Gov%20Newsom_SB1047.pdf
  29. ^ "Pelosi Statement in Opposition to California Senate Bill 1047 | Representative Nancy Pelosi". pelosi.house.gov. 2024-08-16. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  30. ^ Myrow, Rachael (2024-08-29). "Pelosi Blasts California AI Bill Heading to Newsom's Desk as 'Ill-Informed' | KQED". www.kqed.org. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  31. ^ "Response to House Dems". SB 1047 - Safe & Secure AI Innovation. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  32. ^ https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1828205685386936567
  33. ^ Jamal, Nynu V. (2024-08-27). "California's Bold AI Safety Bill: Buterin, Musk Endorse, OpenAI Wary". Coin Edition. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  34. ^ https://x.com/sgandhi0/status/1824597329640559096
  35. ^ Lovely, Garrison (2024-08-28). "Tech Industry Uses Push Poll to Stop California AI Bill". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
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