Former DOJ antitrust chief questions calls for AI antitrust exemptions in competition debate

A former U.S. Department of Justice antitrust chief has publicly questioned whether calls by leading AI labs for antitrust exemptions to coordinate on safety could lead to cartel-like behavior. Jonathan Kanter, who led major antitrust cases against Google, Apple, and Ticketmaster during the Biden administration, said in an interview that the idea of companies seeking regulatory exemptions to collectively "pace the frontier" of AI development warrants skepticism.

Kanter framed the current state of AI governance as akin to a transportation system without rules: powerful technology exists, but there are no clear lines on the road, traffic lights, or speed limits. He emphasized that both corporate actors and government have responsibilities in establishing guardrails, but he cautioned against conflating safety coordination with the need for antitrust exemptions.

He described the calls from AI executives—including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Elon Musk—to slow development as potentially rooted in a prisoner’s dilemma: companies do not fully trust one another and seek an external enforcer to impose a shared policy framework. However, Kanter argued that the most generous interpretation of these calls does not justify antitrust exemptions, and that even the most cynical view should not result in such exemptions.

Kanter’s remarks come amid a broader debate over AI safety and regulation, including public statements from researchers at major labs warning of existential risks and urging slower development timelines. The discussion also touches on antitrust concerns raised by policymakers and observers who question whether coordinated calls for a slowdown could mask efforts to reduce competitive pressure or influence market outcomes ahead of potential public offerings.