It’s an age-old problem with government red tape. We have seen before how novel industries start out opposing regulation, but somewhere down the road — usually after growing large — they have a change of heart, realizing that regulation can be used to build a moat around their strong position and keep out competitors. Looking at AI, Anthropic has been attempting to figuratively “pull the ladder up” on nascent players by endorsing legislation that adds new liability expenses, additional disclosure laws, and bans on competitors exporting the physical chips that AI data centers rely on.
These efforts amount to a significant barrier to entry for competitors, which White House AI czar David Sacks incisively warned against, stating: “Anthropic is running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fearmongering.”
Anthropic’s recent moves suggest the company has adopted the mantra, “If you can’t beat your competitors, regulate them.” This is a curious approach as the company’s Claude chatbot is widely considered one of the best currently on the market. Nonetheless, the company seems to lack confidence in its own product without the protective moat of federal regulations and trade restrictions.
