To Regulate AI Effectively, Focus on How It’s Used

One of the core pillars of a16z's roadmap for federal AI legislation makes clear AI should not excuse wrongdoing. When people or companies use AI to break the law, existing criminal, civil rights, consumer protection, and antitrust frameworks should still apply. Enforcement agencies should have the resources they need to enforce the law. If existing bodies of law fall short in accounting for certain AI use cases, any new laws should be evidence-based, clearly defining marginal risks and the optimal approach to target harms directly.In this conversation, we go deeper on what that principle means in practice with Martin Casado, general partner at a16z where he leads the firm’s infrastructure practice and invests in advanced AI systems and foundational compute.Martin joins Jai Ramaswamy and Matt Perault to discuss how decades of technology policy can inform addressing harmful uses of AI, defining marginal risk in AI, the importance of open source for long-term competitiveness, and more.Topics Covered:01:55: A brief history of recent debates about how to regulate AI12:30: Regulating use vs. development: lessons from software and cybersecurity15:47: An open question in AI policy today: defining marginal risk18:33: Why social media is often the wrong analogy for AI regulation20:50: Enforcement tools available for holding bad actors to account24:11: Balancing many trade-offs in tech policy27:33: The role open source models play in soft power, the future of AI, and global competitiveness38:06: Implications of regulatory uncertainty41:32: Lawmakers want to act; what can they do now to enact effective policy?Resources:Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPeraultFollow Jai Ramaswamy: https://twitter.com/jai_ramaswamyFollow Martin Casado: https://twitter.com/martin_casadoSubscribe to the a16z AI Policy Brief: https://a16zpolicy.substack.com/Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit a16zpolicy.substack.com