Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal.
Editor:
Seldom do I agree with Bernie Sanders, but I share his conviction that “the future of AI must be decided by the American people” (“AI Is a Threat to Everything the American People Hold Dear,” April 4). Mr. Sanders errs, however, in his preferred means of achieving this outcome. The senator wants control over AI’s future to be monopolized by himself and other government officials – meaning, he wants to deny to hundreds of millions of ordinary Americans the ability to vote with their own dollars on which particular features of AI, and which specific AI vendors, deserve support and which don’t.
In free markets, unlike in political elections, candidates – that is, suppliers – need not first win party support, and they may enter the contest to win public approval whenever they wish. Voting is daily and continuous, not once every few years. Further, voting in markets is done with one’s own, not other people’s, dollars, and is quickly followed for each voter by personal feedback that’s concentrated and reliable. Selection in markets allows the blooming of as many flowers as consumers wish, with no individuals forced to patronize firms they dislike. In contrast, even under the most ideal circumstances, selection by government denies satisfaction to voters with minority preferences, obliging everyone to deal only with the majority-preferred ‘winners.’
The only way to ensure that the future of AI is decided by the American people is to have that decision made in free markets unsullied by what the great economist Thomas Sowell calls the “rampaging presumptions” of politicians and bureaucrats.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
