On September 12, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, suggested that the pace of AI development should be regulated. Less than ten days later, his statement led to an antitrust lawsuit after Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis expressed their agreement. A consumer group in the U.S. has accused them of collusion.
The lawsuit's premise is straightforward. Each company has the freedom and obligation to set its own safety standards and development speed. However, once competitors share these decisions, it constitutes collusion, which is prohibited under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
This case is intriguing because it differs from typical collusion cases. In standard collusion, such as price-fixing or production limits, the harm to consumer welfare is clear. In this instance, however, the argument is cloaked in the guise of 'safety.' While there are valid points in their claim that slowing AI development could benefit humanity, it is crucial to note that this adjustment was made through an agreement among market-dominant players.
Antitrust law focuses not on the goodwill of the outcome but on the existence of an agreement itself. Regardless of how plausible the justification may be, if competitors decide to align their industry’s pace, it distorts the market, which is the core of the plaintiffs' argument.
In court, the challenge will likely hinge on 'evidence' rather than justification. Section 1 of the Sherman Act regulates 'agreements' between competitors, not merely similar conclusions or conscious actions that lead to similar behavior.
U.S. courts have long held that mere circumstantial evidence of competitors moving in tandem after public statements is insufficient to prove collusion. They require substantial evidence of actual exchanges or interdependence. Therefore, whether Amodei's statement and the subsequent agreement from other CEOs are seen as a result of prior coordination or coincidental independent judgment will be the key issue in this lawsuit.
Beyond the legal implications, it is essential to consider the current situation. The fact that a handful of CEOs from dominant companies can dictate the pace of an entire industry based on a few public statements and subsequent agreements starkly symbolizes the 'supercorporation era,' where companies create their own global order. Moreover, the public's acceptance of this without significant resistance could lead to a more troubling future.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, have drawn lines in the sand, with former President Donald Trump criticizing the agreement as one that would 'only benefit China,' marking the beginning of opposition to their consensus. Without external checks, the agreement among a few dominant players could have become the industry's rules without any scrutiny. It is crucial to note that consumers, regulatory authorities, and even competing companies had no opportunity to voice their concerns regarding this decision.
Regulations, including antitrust laws, were originally established to monitor and control the power of a few dominant players in the market. Just as trust regulations emerged in the late 19th century when expectations of self-regulation failed, regulations are born from the need for external oversight.
However, we should not naively accept the situation where the companies that should be monitored declare, 'We will regulate our own pace,' as a model of self-regulation. When those who should be under scrutiny position themselves as the overseers, the standards will inevitably be designed to serve their interests rather than the market or public good.
Regardless of whether this lawsuit proves collusion, a precedent must not be set where voluntary agreements among dominant companies become the starting point for regulation. Regulations should not be created by them but established externally to hold them accountable. What is needed now is not blind faith in the goodwill of CEOs but an external perspective capable of verifying that goodwill.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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