Congress Wants to Hand Big AI a Government-Protected Monopoly

Watching Congress “barrel” toward an AI bill that reads like it was ghostwritten in a boardroom is getting old. We keep being told this is about safety, guardrails, and stopping the worst abuses. Fine. But the way these things land, they don’t land on the giants. They land on the little guys. If Washington writes the rulebook, Big AI writes the footnotes.

The weird twist is how the loudest anti-AI voices are turning into the best lobbyists Big Tech could ask for. When you demand sweeping restrictions, licensing schemes, and compliance regimes that only a handful of companies can afford, you don’t “rein in” the industry. You freeze it in place. Startups get priced out. Open-source gets choked. And the same firms everyone claims to fear end up as the only legal option. A “safety” stamp can turn into a monopoly shield fast.

Conservatives should be the first to call this what it is: a government-protected moat. If Congress wants to go after obvious harms like fraud, deepfake extortion, or the use of AI to cheat hiring and lending rules, there are already tools. Target the crimes. Enforce the laws. Don’t build a new federal permission slip system for math. The quickest way to pick winners is to regulate like only the winners can comply.

And let’s not ignore the politics. The same crowd that can’t secure the border or run a competent disaster response is suddenly eager to police every model update and every new app. We’ve seen this movie with Big Tech before: a few “trusted partners,” a pile of paperwork, and everyone else locked out. If Congress is serious, it should focus on transparency for government use, stop agencies from using AI to surveil Americans, and keep the market open. Otherwise, this is just another Washington deal where regular people get the rules and the biggest players get the carve-outs.