Artificial Intelligence Governance


Artificial Intelligence regulation appears to be more supervision and self-regulation than traditional regulation.

A paper published at ssrn.com by Peter Wills (last revised on September 30, 2026) explains. The abstract...

Frontier AI systems have the potential to cause, directly or indirectly, immense harm. They also may improve human welfare. Currently, frontier AI systems are developed and controlled by large, increasingly powerful corporations: the Googles, OpenAIs, Anthropics, and Metas of the world. 

The regulatory challenge is to prevent the harms while enabling the benefits. Many of the tools in the regulatory toolbox are ill-suited to achieving this Goldilocks ambition. They are either so blunt that they would prevent both the harms and the benefits or are incapable of stopping the harms. 

The solution is to supervise the companies that develop and control such frontier AI systems. Supervision emerged from the complex environment of financial regulation, but it has since become a standard way for governments to manage fast-moving and sensitive industries without unnecessarily stymying innovation. It allows government to ratchet up the oversight of risky behavior while permitting benign behavior to proceed freely. 

Although supervision can be a highly effective mode of regulation, it relies on the exercise of discretion. Such discretion can be misused, which means supervision should be used only for issues that are pressing and important, and where supervision is necessary. Frontier AI development is a domain that meets that test.


 

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