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Del Complex wants to create a floating sovereign nation state to avoid AI regulation

BlueSea Frontier Compute Cluster is a floating computer that will sit in international waters and will be used to deploy 'large scale AI models'.

Sam Chandler

October 31, 2023 7:15 PM

Del Complex

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As the age of AI continues to try and elbow its way into various industries, companies are looking for new ways to take advantage of the technology, and in the case of Del Complex, avoid government regulation.

In a post on Twitter (now called X), Del Complex announced a new construct called the BlueSea Frontier Compute Cluster or BSFCC for short. Del Complex takes umbrage with the Biden administration’s AI Executive Order and the EU’s AI Act, claiming that it is to “centralize control under guise of safety.” The solution, in Del Complex’s eyes, is to create a floating sovereign nation state out in the middle of the sea.

The company’s BSFCC’s are equipped with over 10,000 of NVIDIA’s H100 GPUs and are designed to train and deploy the “next generation of large scale AI models”. The website notes that these sovereign states are “untouched by decelerationist rhetoric” and also pose an opportunity for tax shelter.

As for the “decelerationist” and “draconian” regulations Del Complex is referring to, that would be the Executive Order targeting artificial intelligence. This Executive Order features a host of information, but a few of the key points is that developers must share their safety test results with the U.S. government; develop standards, tools, and tests to ensure AI is safe, secure, and trustworthy; and protect against AI being used to develop dangerous biological material.

Though Del Complex wants to avoid these regulations, it has considered the safety of the equipment, people, and data that’s aboard its BSFCCs. The ships will come with a permanent population of “allied nation-state military forces” and boasts a suite of other defenses like electronic jamming equipment, aerial surveillance, and optical and thermal camouflage all in an attempt to offer “robust threat mitigation”.

The Del Complex site also features a shop where you can buy windbreakers and t-shirt as well as deactivated employee ID badges and pallets of miscellaneous equipment.

The post on social media has garnered a lot of replies. One user imagines a situation where Del Complex scales the operation into fully autonomous cities. The company responded with “Interlinked BSFCC’s will form city-states, able to reconfigure based on political economic strategy.”

This all sounds like a level taken out of a Splinter Cell title from the early 2000s or even Metal Gear. It will certainly be interesting to see what sort of investors, enthusiasts, and companies take Del Complex up on the idea. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on how these floating sovereign nation states built in response to AI regulation progress.

Sam Chandler

Guides Editor

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as a Guides Editor. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler