Mike Benz Warns AI Regulation Could Give Government ‘Ultimate Seat of Lobbying Power’

Kaitlin Housler
Mike Benz

Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, warned that calls from artificial intelligence (AI) companies for government regulation could create a powerful new system of regulatory capture while acknowledging that increasingly capable AI systems pose legitimate risks.

Benz made the remarks during Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show while discussing recent calls from AI industry leaders, including executives at Anthropic and OpenAI, for government intervention.

“It’s funny, I feel like we’re needing to update that quote now somehow,” Benz said, referencing former President Ronald Reagan’s warning about the phrase, “I’m from the government, I’m here to help.”

He added, “Maybe the dangerous words are, ‘Hey, government, can you please help me? Can you help me save me from myself and everyone else from me?’”

Benz said AI regulation presents a legitimate policy challenge because of the technology’s potential capabilities, but argued that the companies developing the most advanced systems should not be allowed to shape the rules governing the industry without significant scrutiny.

“There is an element of it which is real, a kernel of it that is very easily understandable when you’re talking about technology of this type,” Benz said.

However, he warned that regulations could become a mechanism for established AI companies and other industries to limit competitors.

“That regulatory structure is going to become the ultimate seat of lobbying power,” Benz said, predicting that industries would lobby government agencies over how AI models could be used, potentially creating rules designed to benefit particular companies or sectors.

“You have to be extremely skeptical the whole time. You have to be extremely tough on the regulators to make sure that they do not become the locus for a site of abuse. And Anthropic and OpenAI are the last people on Earth, in terms of their senior management, I’d want setting the rules of the road on that,” he added

Benz also questioned whether Anthropic and OpenAI can become profitable given the enormous costs associated with developing frontier AI models.

“There is a skepticism about whether or not these two leading companies, when it comes to the frontier of AI development, are ever going to hit the point where they become profitable,” he said.

Benz suggested regulatory restrictions on open-source AI could also protect major companies from lower-cost competitors.

“The idea is the regulatory capture can not only protect their business model, but it could potentially invite a government bailout in the same way that you have the government which regulates the banks, and this very close relationship between the government and the banks,” he said.

At the same time, Benz said AI has already become a major productivity tool and could eventually transform the economy.

“It is very much a game changer,” he said, adding that government contracts could become “a huge source of revenue” for AI companies.

Benz also discussed the potential for AI-driven automation to eliminate large numbers of jobs.

“I’ve got family members and friends who work at very large successful companies, and about, I don’t know, six months ago, they started requiring their employees to all start automating their jobs in some respect,” he said.

“It’s hard to imagine something that a human could do better than AI,” Benz added.

He said the rapid pace of development could eventually lead to AI systems capable of improving AI itself.

“You get to a point where you don’t even need humans to build the AI better,” Benz said. “The AI can build itself better than you could possibly ever hope to.”

Benz concluded, saying that development could usher in what he called “a kind of strange, brave, new world,” particularly as AI advances are combined with robotics.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Image “Mike Benz” by Mike Benz.

 

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