Fathom Launches to Bring Experts, Civic Groups, the Business Community, and Americans’ Hopes and Concerns into the AI Discussion
23 Julio 2024 - 7:00AM
Fathom, an organization mapping the ambitions of a broad and
diverse society to the specific steps required to move toward its
vision for a world with AI, announced today that it is launching
with $25M dedicated to its efforts. As its first steps, Fathom is
releasing an initial set of insights from polling and ongoing focus
groups that show a growing consensus on the role of government and
AI companies in the development and implementation of AI.
“The explosion of artificial intelligence means that we need new
ways to have thoughtful conversations between technologists,
policymakers — and just about everyone else. It’s important that
there be a trusted voice to ground these conversations with data
about the real concerns and aspirations of the American public,”
said Andy Hickl, Fathom advisor and CTO of the Allen Institute.
“I’m inspired by Fathom’s commitment to developing expertise on AI
and translating society’s ambitions into a roadmap that reflects
the diverse voices and perspectives necessary for a balanced and
inclusive AI future.”
“Building an inclusive roadmap starts with listening, and that’s
exactly what we’ve been doing for the last three months — meeting
with civic, business, tech, and policy leaders, holding focus
groups, and polling the public,” said Blake Pierson, Co-Founder and
CEO of Fathom. “There will be more to share in the future, but
today we wanted to share a few insights about how the public is
thinking about AI today.”
The poll, conducted in consultation with leading pollsters
across parties including Molly Murphy (D, Impact Research) and
Patrick Ruffini (R, Echelon Insights) shows an America evenly
divided across party lines between being excited, concerned, and
ambivalent about AI. It is, however, united in that a strong
majority of voters (66%) believe the federal government ‘has a role
to play in developing guardrails and protections to address
concerns about how artificial intelligence is developed and used.’
This belief is nonpartisan, with 60% of Republicans, 72% of
Democrats, and 64% of Independents expressing this view.
Americans also believe, however, that these same policymakers
lack the knowledge and expertise to effectively govern AI, and are
too slow to act. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters do not trust
the federal government to govern AI properly. They are also
ambivalent (50%-47%) toward the ability of the companies developing
AI to develop the proper guardrails. When asked who they would
trust, 65% of likely voters said that they would trust a
public-private coalition to ensure that AI develops with the proper
guardrails — a belief that also crosses party lines.
Download the full Fathom Report or summary.
“Our poll shows the rough position Congress will be in as the
power of AI continues to grow and the technology becomes
ubiquitous,” said Andrew Freedman, Co-Founder and Chief Strategic
Officer of Fathom. “The vast majority of Americans believe that the
government must play a crucial role, and an even greater majority
doubts that it will be able to do so. Our poll and focus groups
have also shown us that Americans are already growing skeptical of
AI companies’ ability to value societal interests above profit. To
be clear, both of these groups are instrumental in the discussion,
but they need a much broader and more diverse set of voices
empowered to join the conversation if we are going to find a
positive and inclusive approach to implementing AI. That’s why
Fathom exists.”
Fathom will translate the needs, hopes, and fears of society
into a practical roadmap for action through listening, learning,
and educating. To inform these efforts, Fathom is announcing a
research network, starting with the Technology and Security Policy
Center at RAND and the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced
Technologies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
These research centers will focus on gathering new and novel
research about the best paths forward in using AI to ensure
national security and defense. The network will expand in the
coming months to support Fathom’s other current research areas: AI
& Business and Innovation and AI & Democracy and
Society.
Fathom is also announcing that it will hold its first annual
summit on January 7-9, 2025. This first-of-its-kind event will
convene experts, advocates, and leaders from a wide array of
sectors and backgrounds to assess existing learnings about AI’s
potential and the best ways to responsibly guide its use in core
areas. As Washington moves from campaigning in the first post-AI
election to governing, this summit will focus on how policymakers
and stakeholders should be thinking about AI and produce a set of
recommendations to serve as a framework for efforts to chart a
course for AI development and deployment.
About FathomFathom is informed by an impressive
and growing roster of advisors and researchers whose expertise
spans national security, government, civic participation,
innovation, and the social and ethical implications of AI,
including:
- Ret. Rear Admiral Wyman (Hugh W. Howard III.), Commander, Naval
Special Warfare Command
- Professor S. Craig Watkins, Executive Director of the IC2
Institute at the University of Texas at Austin
- Professor Eitan Hersh, Professor of Political Science at Tufts
University
- Andy Hickl, Chief Technology Officer of the Allen
Institute
- Dr. Steve Omohundro, Founder and CEO of Beneficial AI
Research
- Dr. Jeff Alstott, Director, RAND Center for Technology &
Security Policy
- Gregory C. Allen, Director, Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced
Technologies, Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS)
Fathom was founded by three people who have the experience and
expertise to bridge the gap between D.C., Silicon Valley, and the
rest of America:
Blake Pierson is the CEO of Fathom. Blake’s
roots are as an entrepreneur and builder. He spent more than a
decade in Silicon Valley deeply understanding the needs, hopes, and
fears of users before building technology and teams to solve and
meet those needs.
Andrew Freedman is the Chief Strategic Officer
at Fathom. Andrew has over 15 years of expertise in coalition
building in the technology and emerging regulatory sectors,
including as partner at a top 10 D.C. government affairs firm.
Notably, Andrew implemented the first-in-the-world cannabis
regulatory system in Colorado.
Julie Crabill is the Chief Communications
Officer at Fathom. Julie is a communicator and storyteller who has
spent the last two decades focused on building communities,
branding, and reputation management, with a focus on technologies
that help people live better lives.
Fathom is an independent 501(c)(3) that wants to see society
successfully transition to a world with AI. This requires that
everyone - from businesses and NGOs to everyday people - has a say
in what that world looks like. Fathom is here to map the ambitions
of a broad and diverse society to the specific steps required to
move it toward its vision for the future. Get involved at
www.fathom.org.
Ali Haider
Fathom
(361) 793-1039
ali@jones-dilworth.com