AI's cozy crony capitalism: Regulating artificial intelligence presents a “Baptists and bootleggers” problem.

Something similar to the licensing control suggested by Altman was used by Queen Elizabeth I in 16th century England. She assigned transferable printing rights to a particular printing guild member in a frustrated effort to regulate and censor printing.

Altman's moral appeal rests on the notion of preserving a nation of people or their way of life. In that way, it satisfies the "Baptist" component of the bootleggers and Baptists theory of regulation, which I developed decades ago and which explains why calls to "regulate me" may be seen as just about businesses earning extra profits.