Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta… Many major tech groups have come together to put pressure on political leaders. Their goal? Obtain a ban on regulating AI for at least ten years so they can innovate as they see fit and without control.
The big tech names in the United States who are joining forces to corrupt the political class and succeed in winning the right to develop AI technologies as they see fit, without any control, restriction, or regulation. No, this isn't the next sci-fi movie coming to theaters, it's reality.
An investigation by the Financial Times tells us that an intense lobbying campaign is taking place across the Atlantic to give companies carte blanche in the field of AI. This action is being led by Incompas, a trade association whose mission is to “advocate for laws and policies that promote competition, innovation, and the economic development of internet, streaming, telecommunications, and new technology companies.”.
No AI Regulation for Ten Years
Incompas members include well-known names in the tech industry, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Among the major players, only Apple is absent. Canva, which has largely focused its strategy on AI, and the telecom operator Verizon are also part of this organization.
Chip Pickering, CEO of Incompas, is a former member of Congress. He therefore has many contacts within the legislative branch of the United States, which includes the Senate and the House of Representatives. He believes that avoiding any AI regulation is essential “for American leadership” and that such a policy of non-regulation is “important in the race against China”.
Lobbying, for example, convinced Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who said: “It’s important to prevent the world’s leading innovation country from falling behind in AI. If we suddenly have 50 different regulatory or legal frameworks, how can any sensible person not understand that this will be an obstacle?”.
Nothing is certain yet, but Incompas has so far succeeded in planting a seed and starting a debate on the issue. The One Big Beautiful bill, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, even includes language preventing AI regulation for a period of ten years.
The Senate still has its say
This has also created a muddle. It seems that some elected officials voted in favor of adopting this bill without having really read it or understood its implications. “I am categorically opposed to this and it is a violation of state rights […] and I would have voted no if I had known that was in there,” reacted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican. “We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next ten years […] The Senate needs to remove this possibility,” she now asserts. A problem that wouldn't have arisen if she and some of her colleagues knew what they were voting for.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn has already said she would oppose the moratorium. She supports a Tennessee law banning the unauthorized use of AI in the music industry. Other senators, sensitive to respect for copyright, among other things, could vote against the adoption of the text.
Politicians' ignorance of AI issues facilitates the work of lobbyists, who only have to deliver a speech that their interlocutors don't understand to convince them. The fear of seeing China surpass the United States in AI is also an easy argument to influence the opinion of those who vote on laws.
Ted Cruz, another Republican, proposed that the law be linked to the federal budget, making it possible to bypass Democratic votes. In this case, states that refuse to comply with the measure would be punished by not obtaining funding for broadband access in rural areas. In the United States, the quality of network infrastructure is lower than in Europe, in particular because of the vastness of the territory.
In Europe, an AI pact has been signed by Google, Microsoft, and Meta, but not by Apple. However, it is not binding, as these are voluntary commitments. A European regulation on artificial intelligence is due to come into force in 2026.
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