Alex Stamos, Corridor chief product officer and former Facebook chief security officer, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the future of AI regulation, AI distillation and much more.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Alex Stamos, Chief Product Officer at Corridor and former Facebook security chief, stated that China is currently producing the best open weight AI models, which are widely used as open source tools by companies globally. He explained that a common practice in the industry is 'distillation,' where new AI models are trained by querying established models, a method that has contributed to the rapid advancement of Chinese models like DeepSeek.

Stamos also addressed the regulatory landscape, noting that while China enforces strict AI regulations, the United States faces legal and constitutional challenges in establishing federal oversight. He emphasized the importance of a risk-based regulatory framework tailored to specific AI applications, warning that resistance to regulation could lead to negative consequences similar to those experienced by the social media industry.

Best open weight AI models coming from China, says Corridor's Stamos

Alex Stamos is Chief Product Officer at Corridor and former Chief Security Officer at Facebook. Alex, it's great to see you. I don't know if you'd have any comment on whether Meta is training off of this Chinese model. Yeah, I don't have any specific insight. I'm not at Meta anymore. What that's called is distillation. So when you're building a model, one of the ways you can train it is you could ask another model millions or billions of questions, take that output and then build your model to give similar kinds of output. That is widely believed and pretty much proven that this is how DeepSeek jumped way ahead by doing this using OpenAI's models running in Microsoft's cloud. So it is not shocking that Facebook would be doing the same thing. It does indicate, as you're talking about, that the Chinese have taken the lead in the open weight models. If you're looking for those open source models that you can modify as a company, it looks like right now the best models are coming from China. So, yeah, I mean, or it almost sounds parasitic to me that Facebook would be saying, oh, just go trade on their models and do it cheaper. And then I mean, the whole thing is a bit strange. This is becoming it is kind of frowned upon and seen as a little bit rude in the space. But it's also becoming a standard kind of competitive way to bootstrap your model, to base it upon the work somebody else has done. Again, it looks like this is how DeepSeek jumped ahead way far with their model that made huge waves. And as CNBC viewers know, caused real disruption to NVIDIA stock price going up and down, up and down, was that they trained it themselves. They did a lot of work themselves and not to take that away from them. But they also based it upon asking millions and millions of questions of OpenAI's model to see how it reacted. And so it looks like we're doing the same thing as Americans to now try to build upon the work the Chinese researchers. So what does that mean when we're trying to encourage our own AI regulation? We're fighting against China, but also trading off of their models. I mean, what do you think of the president's EO? Appropriate? Or do we need to let states kind of move ahead in certain areas in regulating the usage of AI? So from the lawyers I've talked to, there's a lot of question of whether or not this EO is legal. The president generally does not have the ability to change state law or to punish states for passing their own laws. This is why we have a constitution. We live in a republic where states are allowed to have their own laws. As a technologist, I absolutely agree that we should have a federal framework, but the federal framework should come from Congress. And as your reporter pointed out, the Chinese actually have extremely strict AI regulation. So the framing that there's no way to compete with China unless you have no regulation at all, I think is incorrect. My fear here is that the AI industry is heading towards the same kind of danger we had in social media a decade ago, where the social media companies push back, push back, push back against any possible regulatory framework. And as a result, ended up with there basically being no rules and now a huge amount of pushback from a number of democracies, including Australia, including Europe. And if the industry doesn't embrace some kind of reasonable set of safety and security controls here, we're going to see the same kind of downstream negative effects. Totally. A huge political pushback against the industry. Look how they're being sued already by families of those who have committed murders and others. But should they just. So what are the odds that being so early on, how is Congress supposed to know how to begin to regulate this industry? I can understand your point. Regulate it, accept the regulation, avoid a major backlash. But that means Congress has to come up with that regulation now. They do. And I think what we need is a flexible set of rules that are applied as close as possible to the application of AI to the actual problem set. I think one of the problems of the state laws is that they focus on the fundamental models. But like an open AI model or anthropic model or one of the Chinese models doesn't mean a lot just by itself. It's just a tool that can be used for millions of different applications. What we really need is a risk based framework that looks at how we're using AI and then sets up reasonable guidelines to push for people to think about. So if you're using AI for medical purposes, if you're using AI to make decisions in the business, that there are certain regulations that you have to follow and tests you have to do to make sure you're doing things appropriately.

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Washington

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

One day after capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, the U.S. has sanctioned three of Nicolas Maduro's nephews, along with six other oil tankers.

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated.

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honor.

Caracas

Nobel peace laureate Machado vows to take award home to Venezuela

Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Tokyo

Japan alerts citizens about possible megaquake

A Maryland judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and was later detained for potential deportation to another country.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

About 500,000 people are fleeing renewed clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Over a dozen were killed as fighting shatters a US-Malaysia-brokered peace deal amid a decades-old temple land dispute.

Samraong

Half a million flee as Thailand-Cambodia border clashes escalate

The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

Trump confirms seizing of Venezuelan oil tanker

The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Rakhine

Air strike in Myanmar killed at least 31 people, dozens injured

The U.S. military seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been used to violate sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Iran.

U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother's behalf in Oslo, Norway. Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, is set to make an address on Thursday.

Oslo

Venezuela's Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize in absentia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is commenting on potential elections in Ukraine under certain conditions. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst joins CBS News with more on the war against Russia.

Kyiv

Zelenskyy prepared to hold elections after Trump questions motive

A renewed outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has derailed a US-brokered peace agreement, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes.

Bangkok

Border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia flares up again

U.S. immigration agents used pepper spray against protesters in Minneapolis on Tuesday as residents blocked the officers’ vehicles and forced them to leave the area.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis protests erupt over ICE operation targeting Somalis

In Australia, millions of kids' social media profiles are going dark, as the country's new social media ban takes effect for anyone under 16. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Canberra

Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

President Trump, in recent months, has dismissed concerns about affordability, but this evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he is focusing on the crisis and touting his administration's efforts to lower the cost of living. Nancy Cordes has more.

Pennsylvania

Trump tries to flip the script on affordability

Dozens of protesters blocked a highway near Tel Aviv to demonstrate against moves by the Israeli government to force some ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service, something they are currently exempt from so they can study the Torah full time.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Bill over ultra-Orthodox military conscription sparks protests in Israel

President Trump has told Politico that Nicolas Maduro's "days are numbered" in Venezuela. Political strategists Kevin Sheridan and Hyma Moore join with analysis.

Trump says Maduro’s “days are numbered”

The FBI has released a new photo of former Olympian Ryan Wedding, whom the bureau’s director has described as a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar.” The ex-skier and snowboarder remains at large as agents continue their search.

FBI releases new photo of alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Tuesday (December 9), meanwhile voicing his refusal to surrender territory to Moscow despite pressure from Washington for territorial concessions.

Rome

Zelenskyy seeks backing from Pope Leo XIV, Italian PM Meloni

A federal judge said Tuesday (December 9) that the Department of Justice can unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more details.

Judge says DOJ can unseal Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking case records

Prosecutors on Monday (December 8) released new evidence seized from Luigi Mangione on the day of his arrest. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago and has pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan

New evidence introduced in Luigi Mangione case

The EU antitrust enforcer has opened an investigation into the U.S. tech giant over its use of online content to power its AI services, a move that threatens to ratchet up transatlantic relations.

Brussels

EU Commission opens probe into Google over AI

The U.S. government said the approval, which comes in exchange for a 25% surcharge, would also be available to other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Trump gives Nvidia green light to sell H200 chips to China

Ukraine is set to present a revised peace plan to the United States on Tuesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks in London with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain.

London

Ukraine to share revised peace plan with U.S., Zelenskiy says

The International Criminal Court Tuesday handed down a sentence of 20 years to a Sudanese militia leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's civil war two decades ago.

Best open weight AI models coming from China, says Corridor's Stamos

Breakdown

See The Full Story

Rise of AI