Tom Milton

The technology that could make an international AI slowdown possible

Tom Milton, Tom Reed

Faced with a global trust deficit that stalls multilateral AI safety negotiations, international experts are developing hardware-based verification tools like zero-knowledge machine learning and power fingerprinting to mathematically prove that data centers are not performing dangerous training runs. These technologies aim to enable agreements where rival nations pause high-risk model development while allowing safer inference activities to continue, addressing a critical gap where only 50 to 60 engineers currently work on prototype systems. Accelerated government funding and rapid hardware prototyping are now seen as essential to scaling these solutions before the next frontier in AI development renders traditional oversight impossible.