ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Do COVID And AI Rhyme?

Think about that for a moment.

Some of the people leading the race are now asking government to help slow the race.

Business titans generally don’t beg Washington to regulate their industries. When they do, it is reasonable to ask why.

Perhaps these executives genuinely fear what they are creating. Given the extraordinary capabilities of AI, that possibility should not be dismissed.

But there is another possibility.

Regulation is expensive. Giant corporations can afford armies of lawyers, compliance officers, lobbyists, engineers, and safety researchers. Smaller competitors and startups often cannot. What begins as a regulatory guardrail can eventually become a competitive moat.

Investor Steve Eisman, famous for anticipating the 2008 housing collapse, recently made precisely this argument, suggesting that AI companies warning of catastrophe may benefit from regulations that protect dominant firms from competitors.

That doesn’t prove motive, but it certainly makes the question worth asking.

And the political cavalry was arriving at roughly the same time.

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