WASHINGTON — NetChoice, a leading tech industry association dedicated to defending free expression and free enterprise, today issued the following statement in response to recent suggestions that the Trump administration is facilitating some form of government ownership or control of private American artificial intelligence companies and labs.
“America leads the world in technology because of the free market, not bureaucracy,” said Patrick Hedger, NetChoice Director of Policy. “Forcing a government partnership or financial stake upon private AI labs mimics the socialist economic models of our adversaries, compromises the First Amendment, and establishes an unprecedented bureaucratic chokehold on American innovation.”
“The free market is infinitely more agile and efficient than the federal government. Nationalizing America’s leading AI labs, even if only partially, would inject Washington bureaucracy into a hyper-competitive, fast-moving industry, stalling progress when we can least afford it. The global AI race is a competition of ideologies. To beat state-controlled models like China’s, we must lean into American free-market principles, not cripple our own tech leaders with European-style regulation or Beijing-style government control.”
“If these plans materialize, unelected bureaucrats will inevitably leverage this financial control to influence labs and manipulate the free flow of information. When the state controls the labs, it controls the outputs. State intervention in frontier AI poses a direct threat to free speech, granting Washington the structural leverage to censor viewpoints and dictate how Americans access news, knowledge, and opinion.”
“While the White House considers different ideas for how to best ensure America and everyday Americans are the winners in the global AI race, it should avoid the siren song of Bernie Sanders socialism and stick with the tried and true recipe that has kept America leading for 250 years: freedom.”
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
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