March 7, 2025
Design Mandate Proposals Threaten American AI Leadership
Scholars often cite the 1984 Betamax case as a pivotal moment in the development of modern American tech policy. The entertainment industry sought to prohibit Sony from selling its videocassette recorder, because it could be—and largely was—used by consumers for copyright infringement. But the Court declined, finding that the device was “capable of substantial noninfringing…
March 3, 2025
WEIRD? Institutions and Consumers’ Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in 31 Countries
A survey of perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in 31 countries in 2023 yields significantly less positive perceptions of the new technology in developed western economies than in emerging and non-western economies. This could reflect citizens in non-Western countries perceiving machines (computers) and algorithms differently from those in Western countries, or that a more positive outlook…
February 27, 2025
Innovating Future Power Systems: From Vision to Action
The electricity sector is at an inflection point. The historical model of centralized, monopoly-provided electric service is under pressure from technological change, shifting market forces, evolving policy objectives, and changing consumer expectations. This transformation is accelerating. One fundamental question looms: how can power systems evolve to balance desired outcomes like reliability, resilience, affordability, and decarbonization…
February 26, 2025
This Silent Plane Just Made History
Two weeks ago, Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane made history when it broke the sound barrier over the continental United States, reaching 750 miles per hour (Mach 1.12) near Barstow, California. You might be wondering why this is news. Since Chuck Yeager’s first sonic boom in 1947, thousands of military aircraft have broken the sound barrier. Even…
February 21, 2025
Haste Controls Waste! A Theory of Reform
I’m intensely ambivalent about fast-moving events in Washington, DC, where President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a joint venture with Elon Musk, is causing consternation. Whether part of a purposeful strategy or not, the administration is “flooding the zone” with activity, producing talk of “constitutional crisis” from critics who deplore loose talk from the…
February 20, 2025
Free Speech or Culpable Conduct? When Role-playing Chatbots Allegedly Harm Minors
In November, I examined a federal lawsuit filed by a Florida mother who claims that Character.AI ––a platform operated by Character Technologies, Inc.––and affiliated companies Alphabet and Google are civilly liable for her 14-year-old son’s suicide allegedly caused by a roleplaying chatbot. The outcome of Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. may prove momentous for two…
February 19, 2025
Will the Department of Justice Break the Internet?
There were many contradictions in antitrust enforcement under Biden. But what if Trump’s administration follows the same path? In a striking irony, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against Google, which was decided last summer, may reduce competition—both in search and in access to the World Wide Web. The DOJ’s proposed remedies would stifle…
February 19, 2025
Practical Steps Towards Data and Software Resilience
The trade-off between resilience and efficiency in cloud-based data storage models begs consideration. Cloud-based models make an individual’s data available seamlessly, regardless of the device used. Data—and even the software used to process it (such as Microsoft Office 365)—are no longer tied to a specific location. The IT landscape has been revolutionized as almost all…
February 13, 2025
DeepSeek’s Direct Challenge to Antitrust Orthodoxy
To understand what went wrong with antitrust during the Biden administration, look no further than former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan’s take on DeepSeek’s launch of R1, an artificial-intelligence (AI) platform. Rather than see the moment for what it is — a competitor arising by bypassing Biden’s supposedly insurmountable barriers to competition — she sees this…
February 10, 2025
New FDA Policies Could Limit the Full Value of AI in Medicine
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine is expanding at an astonishing pace, mirroring the rapid advances in AI technology itself. Some experts within the field predict that in the next several years, developers may realize artificial general intelligence (AGI)—a revolutionary form of AI capable of understanding, learning, and applying knowledge across various tasks with…