Artificial Intelligence

The Age of Stupid—and Self-Serving—AI Regulation Is Here!

Anthropic and OpenAI may not like current federal controls on their products, but it will be consumers who end up getting screwed.

Nick Gillespie | 6.24.2026 2:34 PM

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Back in 2018, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg minced no words as he was staring down congressional hearings over the regulation of social media and other parts of the online world. He didn't need the new AI-enhanced Meta Glasses he announced just yesterday to read the writing on the wall: A growing bipartisan consensus in Congress wanted Zuck—and the heads of Apple and Google and other tech giants—to do something about social media, which was starting to be blamed for everything bad in the world.

"I think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than 'yes or no should we be regulated?'" Zuckerberg told CNN. Previously a longtime critic of the need for government regulation, he started rethinking his position, and when he actually sat down before Congress in March 2018, he stated plainly, "We are ready to work with you to move beyond hearings and get started on real reform." To his credit, he didn't mince words that any and all regulations he was ready to help with would almost certainly benefit big players like Facebook: "When you add more rules that companies need to follow, that's something that a larger company like ours inherently just has the resources to go do, and that just might be harder for a smaller company getting started to be able to comply with."

Zuckerberg wasn't alone in his capitulation. By the end of 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook was waving the white flag, too. "I am not a big fan of regulation," he told Axios. "But we have to admit when the free market is not working. And it hasn't worked here. I think it's inevitable that there will be some level of regulation….I think the Congress and the........

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