FTC Ex‑Commissioner Dismisses AI Doomsday Claims, Urges Coordination
Alvaro Bedoya, who served on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission from 2022 until his disputed removal in 2025, has publicly rejected the growing chorus of AI‑doom warnings issued by major labs. He argues that the language of AI‑induced human extinction is a strawman used to justify a cartel of billionaire‑backed companies and that antitrust law does not impede safety coordination.
Key points
- Bedoya dismisses AI‑doom warnings, citing historical resilience and antitrust law.
- He argues labs can coordinate safety without antitrust waivers, citing a 2014 memo.
- Economic pressure from open‑weight models fuels skepticism of antitrust exemptions.
Bedoya cites a 2014 memo and a joint Justice Department‑FTC policy statement from April 10, 2014 that affirm antitrust is not a barrier to cybersecurity information sharing. He points to the economic reality that large labs are burning cash without profitability, while open‑weight models undercut them on price, and calls for skepticism toward antitrust waivers or exemptions.
The former commissioner’s stance echoes comments from Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who support federal safety frameworks but reject the need for an antitrust exemption. His remarks come amid recent internal resignations and calls for a ban on superintelligence, highlighting the tension between rapid AI development and regulatory oversight.
Worried AI Will Kill Everyone? A Former FTC Commissioner Says Ignore the Doomers
bing.com · 14 September 2026
A former US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner has dismissed the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) doom warnings coming out of the biggest labs.
Alvaro Bedoya served on the commission from 2022 until his disputed removal in 2025. His post lands in the middle of a public argument over how fast AI should move.
Humanity Has Survived Worse
Bedoya lists what humans have already lived through.
"AI will not eradicate humanity. Humans survived an ice age, the Black Death, two world wars, and (so far) the advent of nuclear weapons. Anyone who is loudly warning of AI-caused human extinction should not be taken seriously," he said.
He rejects the idea that he is an AI booster or that the technology is harmless. His target is the use of AI extinction language. Bedoya calls it a strawman deployed to justify a cartel of billionaire AI companies.
He offered a test for sincerity. Anyone who truly believed the product might kill everyone would halt operations and call the police.
A 2014 Memo Already Answered This
Anthropic chief Dario Amodei asked Washington for a narrow antitrust waiver so labs could hold safety talks. It sits inside the second of three steps in the pacing plan Sam Altman endorsed last week. Elon Musk backed the idea, too.
Bedoya says they never had to ask. He points to a joint policy statement the Justice Department and the FTC issued on April 10, 2014. It said antitrust is not, and should not be, a roadblock to legitimate cybersecurity information sharing.
"I am, rather, explaining that the companies have, right now and yesterday, the ability to coordinate to stop any safety and health risks. Antitrust is no barrier to that," Bedoya wrote on X
Safety coordination is legal, he explained. Coordination that locks cheaper rivals out of the market is not.
He tied that risk to the economics. The biggest labs are burning cash without reaching profitability. Open weight models undercut them on price.
"The panic of individual employees may be sincere if misguided, but the moves by their CEOs to achieve some kind of broad antitrust waiver or exemption should be meet with deep skepticism in light of the economics of the industry and the threat they face from open models," he added.
Altman has reached a similar conclusion from the other side. In a longer post on X, he said OpenAI does not believe it needs to wait for an antitrust exemption or legislation to start the work.
He still wants a federal framework setting consistent safety requirements for frontier labs. Where government help is needed, he said, is international coordination.
That skepticism runs against a week of warnings from inside the labs themselves. The debate traces back to September 9, when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit. Lawmakers started advocating for a ban on superintelligence. Bridgewater investment chief Greg Jensen has also warned that nothing changes until AI kills someone.
Read the Original story Worried AI Will Kill Everyone? A Former FTC Commissioner Says Ignore the Doomers by Kamina Bashir at beincrypto.com
This text was published by bing.com and written by Kamina Bashir. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
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