Marc Andreessen Revives 'Baptists and Bootleggers' Framework to Dissect AI Regulation
illscience · x · 2026-09-13
Quoting Marc Andreessen's essay The Baptists And Bootleggers Of AI, drawing on the 1920s US alcohol prohibition analogy: reform movements contain two camps — sincere "Baptists" who genuinely believe new restrictions are needed to avert societal disaster, and self-interested "Bootleggers" who profit from regulation. Andreessen applies this lens to AI risk discourse, arguing AI regulation pushes mix genuine concern with players seeking to entrench their own positions.
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