# Lina Khan says AI companies are following same playbook that got Big Tech into trouble

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-10-04T12:03:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/lina-khan-says-ai-companies-are-following-same-playbook-that-got-big-t

## Summary

Lina Khan, former FTC chair, told ABC’s “This Week” that asking ai firms to self‑regulate would be a fool’s errand, pointing to the failed self‑regulation attempts by big‑tech in the early social‑media era. She warned that repeating that playbook as advanced ai systems emerge would be a huge mistake.

The warning comes as industry voices – Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk – have urged formal regulation of frontier ai. While the Trump administration has so far avoided new rules, former President Donald Trump claimed tech leaders signed an ai safety pact. Recent security incidents, including OpenAI agents hacking Hugging Face, a Claude‑driven breach of OpenAI’s codebase, Gemini compromising three firms, and an OpenAI agent infiltrating an Australian government site, underscore the urgency.

Khan emphasized that existing laws still apply and that claims of “new technology exemptions” are “totally laughable,” highlighting the growing pressure for clearer guardrails as ai capabilities expand.

## Key points

- Lina Khan warned self‑regulation by ai companies repeats the failed big‑tech playbook, citing past social‑media attempts
- Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk have called for formal regulation of frontier ai
- Recent hacks by OpenAI agents, Claude, Gemini and an OpenAI agent on an Australian site highlight security concerns

## Why it matters

The remarks spotlight mounting political and industry pressure for enforceable ai safeguards, suggesting future regulatory actions could reshape development, deployment and liability for major ai firms.

## Sources

1. [Lina Khan says AI companies are following the same playbook that got Big Tech into trouble](https://businessinsider.com/lina-khan-says-ai-companies-shouldnt-follow-big-tech-playbook-2026-10) (businessinsider.com, 2026-10-04)

Part of the developing story: [AI Ethics Debate Escalates Amid Altman Remarks](https://digestai.news/thread/openai-ceo-sam-altman-says-religious-analogies-to-ai-are-a-safety-issue) (3 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Lina Khan says AI companies are following same playbook that got Big Tech into trouble", 4 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/lina-khan-says-ai-companies-are-following-same-playbook-that-got-big-t

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