AI Is an Elite Crime Spree

Key Points:

• A widespread panic over AI risks has led to calls for new regulations like an "FDA for AI," but existing laws and regulatory bodies already address many AI-related harms, though enforcement is weak due to political and elite resistance.
• Under the Biden administration, agencies like the FTC and Antitrust Division actively investigated AI safety and monopolistic practices, but faced opposition from Congress, and these efforts were largely reversed under the Trump administration.
• Judicial rulings have consistently favored powerful tech companies, often dismissing antitrust claims or refusing to impose meaningful remedies, reflecting a broader elite consensus that the law is not effectively applied to the powerful.
• The core problem is not the absence of AI regulation but the failure to enforce laws against influential entities, undermining public trust and fueling calls for new laws that may ultimately be ineffective without a cultural and political shift toward true equality before the law.
• The author argues that meaningful AI safety would require enforcing existing laws and holding powerful firms accountable, but the prevailing elite consensus and political dynamics make this unlikely, creating a constitutional crisis around the rule of law and technological governance.