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 AI
12:30: Regulating use vs. development: lessons from software and cybersecurity
15:47: An open question in AI policy today: defining marginal risk
18:33: Why social media is often the wrong analogy for AI regulation
20:50: Enforcement tools available for holding bad actors to account
24:11: Balancing many trade-offs in tech policy
27:33: The role open source models play in soft power, the future of AI, and global competitiveness
38:06: Implications of regulatory uncertainty
41:32: Lawmakers want to act; what can they do now to enact effective policy?
Resources:
Follow Matt Perault: https://x.com/MattPerault
Follow Jai Ramaswamy: https://twitter.com/jai_ramaswamy
Follow Martin Casado: https://twitter.com/martin_casado
Subscribe 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.
