I agree this is a very important difference. I talk about it a little, but mostly not in section 2, which is more about categories of information (abstract vs. concrete vs. tacit, etc) than about institutional contexts for research. The most extensive discussion of issues of this kind is in section 3.4 where I basically say that in the private sector (where most AI development happens) financial motivations for spying are likely to be more important than they were in the Manhattan Project case because:
1. money is in general more salient as a motivation in the private sector
2. expected penalties are lower (being fired or sued rather than being imprisoned or executed) so it is easier to use money to outweigh the penalties and induce people to serve as spies
There are a few other places where I touch on this issue as it relates to things like international trade in AI chips, or which countries will be favored by AI spying. But, aside from the stuff about financial motivations, it is treated in an ad hoc manner, in a sentence or two when it seems relevant to some other topic. If you have more general thoughts on the significance for AI espionage of the fact that AI has more important civilian applications than nuclear energy does, I would be very interested.
Something that I researched a bit, but which did not make the final draft, is a case where the dual-use nature of nuclear energy enabled nuclear espionage. A. Q. Khan, a Pakistani engineer, worked at a Dutch civilian nuclear power plant. The plant did not have very stringent security because the Netherlands did not have nuclear weapons or particularly care about nuclear secrecy (at least at the time). Khan used what he learned in his role at the Dutch plant to serve as one of the most significant figures in the Pakistani nuclear weapons program (maybe the most significant, accounts differ). He went on to work as a sort of black market nuclear weapons consultant for (if I recall correctly) Iran, Syria, North Korea, Libya, and Iraq.
I agree this is a very important difference. I talk about it a little, but mostly not in section 2, which is more about categories of information (abstract vs. concrete vs. tacit, etc) than about institutional contexts for research. The most extensive discussion of issues of this kind is in section 3.4 where I basically say that in the private sector (where most AI development happens) financial motivations for spying are likely to be more important than they were in the Manhattan Project case because:
1. money is in general more salient as a motivation in the private sector
2. expected penalties are lower (being fired or sued rather than being imprisoned or executed) so it is easier to use money to outweigh the penalties and induce people to serve as spies
There are a few other places where I touch on this issue as it relates to things like international trade in AI chips, or which countries will be favored by AI spying. But, aside from the stuff about financial motivations, it is treated in an ad hoc manner, in a sentence or two when it seems relevant to some other topic. If you have more general thoughts on the significance for AI espionage of the fact that AI has more important civilian applications than nuclear energy does, I would be very interested.
Something that I researched a bit, but which did not make the final draft, is a case where the dual-use nature of nuclear energy enabled nuclear espionage. A. Q. Khan, a Pakistani engineer, worked at a Dutch civilian nuclear power plant. The plant did not have very stringent security because the Netherlands did not have nuclear weapons or particularly care about nuclear secrecy (at least at the time). Khan used what he learned in his role at the Dutch plant to serve as one of the most significant figures in the Pakistani nuclear weapons program (maybe the most significant, accounts differ). He went on to work as a sort of black market nuclear weapons consultant for (if I recall correctly) Iran, Syria, North Korea, Libya, and Iraq.