The authors argue Washington’s “hands-off” image on artificial intelligence masks an aggressive shift in where regulation occurs. Rather than policing consumer-facing apps, U.S. policy has focused on the AI stack’s core—chips, data centers and model components—via export controls and national-security measures, including limits on advanced semiconductors and, they say, even model weights. They contrast this with the EU’s application-focused AI Act and China’s content rules, describing a global trend toward regulating the building blocks of AI. The piece calls for greater transparency about these interventions and warns that credible international governance will stall if the U.S. maintains a deregulatory narrative while quietly steering the industry’s foundations.
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