Opinion | The Politics of AI Regulation

Regarding Peggy Noonan’s “The Sandbox at the End of the World” (Declarations, Sept. 19): Has Ms. Noonan given up on markets—and the humans who have always made them work? She quotes an AI firm employee who says “it’s all vast and various and spread out, there is no central deliberative council, no known locus of authority.” But that’s exactly how to make AI work best—by letting innovators and consumers drive its development and use, based on their distinct and disparate knowledge. This is literally the story of human progress.

The reason major AI company CEOs are calling for government regulation is because they’re in the lead and top-down mandates will preserve that lead. Look at what the companies do, not what they say. Since calling for a government-led “slowdown,” many of them have announced the coming release of even more powerful models. Ms. Noonan, with all her experience and wisdom, doesn’t see the trick these companies are pulling.

Christopher Koopman

Abundance Institute

Salt Lake City