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Anthropic irks White House with limits on models’ use

(www.semafor.com)
223 points mindingnever | 7 comments | 17 Sep 25 17:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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impossiblefork ◴[17 Sep 25 18:48 UTC] No.45279816[source]▶
Very strange writing from semafor.com

>For instance, an agency could pay for a subscription or negotiate a pay-per-use contract with an AI provider, only to find out that it is prohibited from using the AI model in certain ways, limiting its value.

This is of course quite false. They of course know the restriction when they sign the contract.

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jdminhbg ◴[17 Sep 25 19:07 UTC] No.45280048[source]▶
Are you sure that every restriction that’s in the model is also spelled out in the contract? If they add new ones, do they update the contract?
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mikeyouse ◴[17 Sep 25 19:13 UTC] No.45280148[source]▶
The contracts will usually say “You agree to the restrictions in our TOS” with a link to that page which allows for them to update the TOS without new signatures.
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giancarlostoro ◴[17 Sep 25 19:26 UTC] No.45280306[source]▶
Usually, contracts will note that you will be notified of changes ahead of time, if it's a good faith contract and company that is.
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1. impossiblefork ◴[17 Sep 25 19:31 UTC] No.45280372[source]▶
Here in Sweden contracts are a specific thing, otherwise it's not a contract, so agreeing to conditions that can be changed by the other party simply isn't a contract and therefore is just a bullshit paper of very dubious legal validity.

I know that some things like this are accepted in America, and I can't judge how it would be dealt with. I assume that contracts between companies and other sophisticated entities are actual contracts with unchangeable terms.

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2. mindcrime ◴[17 Sep 25 19:54 UTC] No.45280644[source]▶
I know that some things like this are accepted in America

Not really. Everything you said about contracts above applies to contracts in America last time I checked. Disclaimer: IANAL, my legal training amounts of 1 semester of "Business Law" in college.

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3. impossiblefork ◴[17 Sep 25 20:24 UTC] No.45280951[source]▶
In theory yes, but you also have this stuff where people agree to get medical treatment and the price isn't specified.

This would be a non-contract in Swedish law, for example.

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4. mikeyouse ◴[17 Sep 25 22:00 UTC] No.45281893[source]▶
Yeah, I’ve signed dozens of contracts for services and some are explicit in the way you expect but a lot of software or SAAS type contracts have flexible terms that refer to TOS and privacy policies that are updated regularly. It’s uncommon that any of those things are changed in a way that either party is upset with so companies are generally okay signing up and assuming good faith.
5. adastra22 ◴[17 Sep 25 22:45 UTC] No.45282343{3}[source]▶
It is also illegal in USA, although that only changed recently.
6. mindcrime ◴[18 Sep 25 00:07 UTC] No.45283107{3}[source]▶
One thing about the US, is how we handle settings where one could conceptualize a contract as being needed, but where it would be way too inefficient and impractical to negotiate, write out, understand, and sign, a written contract. In those cases, which includes things like retail sales, restaurants, and may other cases, the UCC or Uniform Commercial Code[1][2] applies. Not sure offhand if that relates to the medical example or not, but I expect that at least some similar notion applies. So there are binding laws that cover these transactions, it's just not done the same way as a "full fledged contract".

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Commercial_Code

[2]: The UCC also covers other things, but these cases are a lot of what it's best known for.

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7. watwut ◴[18 Sep 25 05:18 UTC] No.45285721{4}[source]▶
Knowing medical prices up front would be entirely possible and practical. In most situations, you should be able to sign contract up front.