Regulation Doesn't Need Perfect Definitions: Lessons from Drugs and Nuclear Power

davidmanheim · x · 2026-09-16

Risk researcher David Manheim argues that countries can absolutely regulate poorly scoped things. Illegal drugs, for instance, keep being redefined to cover designer drugs, and nuclear power is regulated in part by restricting all radioactive material, fissile or not. The analogy suggests AI regulation need not wait for precise definitions.

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