Reddit hot take: AI safety regulation push is a cartel raising rivals' costs
crua9 · reddit · 2026-09-21
A Reddit poster argues that AI companies warning about existential AI risk are really pushing a cartel: incumbents help draft and lobby for regulation whose compliance costs lock out startups.
The post draws historical parallels: Philip Morris backing the 2009 Tobacco Control Act froze its 50% US market share; strict FDA rules created a four-company infant formula oligopoly that broke when Abbott's Sturgis plant shut in 2022; and Boeing's multi-billion-dollar FAA certification burden led to self-certification and the 737 MAX crashes.
The author frames this via the economics concepts of "Raising Rivals Costs" and the "Bootleggers and Baptists" coalition, ending with a comparison to streaming's fixed-pricing power as competition dries up.
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