David Sacks: Opposes using regulatory uncertainty to suppress open-source AI, warning that AI duopolies are seeking to eliminate competition

Odaily Planet Daily reported that David Sacks, chairman of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said in a post on X that using regulatory uncertainty as a competitive tool is “completely unacceptable.” Regulatory decisions should be based on facts, logic, and evidence—not on deliberately manufacturing fear and uncertainty (FUD). He is unsure whether risk investor and AI policy researcher Dean Ball is admitting to a “regulatory capture” strategy, or simply predicting that this will happen, but in any case, the approach of issuing “soft law” warnings through regulatory bodies and creating market panic to force regulated companies away from Chinese open-source models should not be accepted.

David Sacks pointed out that Dean Ball believes there is no need to directly ban Chinese open-source models; it only needs to guide regulatory agencies to issue relevant warnings. It can then influence companies’ decisions by manufacturing enough doubts and uncertainty, and these reasons “don’t even need to be very well substantiated.” Any regulatory decision must have sufficient grounds, rather than using “manufactured doubt” to implement policy by proxy. He warned that bypassing the public deliberation process in this way would not only erode the foundation of the rule of law, but could also open the door to future regulatory abuse targeting any company or individual.

David Sacks further said that current AI policy is at a critical turning point. The leading closed-source labs—already having formed a duopoly at the AI model revenue level—are trying to use government power to eliminate open-source competitors, and he called on other Silicon Valley companies and developers that still support open competition to clearly state their position and jointly maintain an open ecosystem in the AI field.