Big tech companies want AI regulation-but on their own terms

OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman surprised everyone last month when he warned Congress of the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.

Suddenly, it looked like tech companies had learned from the problems of social media and wanted to roll out AI differently. Even more remarkably: They wanted politicians' help.

But a week later, Altman told a different story to reporters in London. The head of ChatGPT's creator said that he would try to comply with European Union rules but if that proved too difficult, his company would "cease operating" within the bloc. The remark prompted Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to accuse Altman of "attempting blackmail". Altman clarified his comments the next day, and when the CEO and commissioner met in person last week, they agreed that they were aligned on regulation.

AI development is blazing ahead. The sector raised over $1 billion in venture capital funding in the first four months of this year alone, and systems are already at work in everything from toothbrushes to drones. How far and how fast things continue to move will depend heavily on whether governments step in.

Big tech companies say they want regulation. The reality is more complicated. In the US, Google, Microsoft, IBM and OpenAI have asked lawmakers to oversee Al, which they say is necessary to guarantee safety and competitiveness with China. Meanwhile, in the EU, where politicians recently voted to approve draft legislation that would put guard rails on generative AI, lobbyists for these same companies are fighting measures that they believe would needlessly constrict tech's hottest new sector.