The Case for AI Regulation
And why you should care | Edition #262
Humans are naturally ‘osmotic’; we absorb and mimic the beings, things, and ‘vibes’ around us.
We have been using social media for the past 20 years, and now we write, behave, and think in ways that are more likely to be rewarded by its algorithms.
Also, 20 years later, we are still dealing with the consequences of bad policies and poor regulation from the early days of social media.
Social media changed humans and human society, and some of these changes are irreversible.
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Three years ago, millions began using AI.
It has been pushed onto people much more intensely than previous technologies. Many use it pervasively, both personally and professionally.
Like social media, AI will also influence how people write, behave, and think.
Many will behave in ways that are more likely to be rewarded by AI systems. Many will prefer interacting with AI systems rather than with humans. Many might be permanently transformed by their interactions with AI systems.
It will shape people both individually and collectively, and in ways that might be irreversible.
Unlike social media, however, AI can harm people in a systemic and ultra-personalized way, and it could more directly lead to catastrophic events.
Also, unlike social media, there is much more hype and pressure, both economic and political, to “remove the red tape,” deregulate, and allow AI to spread freely, at any cost.
And where do I want to go with all that?
These are still the early days of the ‘AI age,’ when AI becomes part of millions of people’s daily lives and pervasively influences them.
Whatever we decide to do now, however, will become systemic and potentially irreversible within 20 years.
If social media is any example, this is the time to set the tone, standards, values, rules, and rights that should be preserved and protected at any cost.
Now is the time to act rationally, collectively, and democratically to ensure that AI serves humans and humanity in the best possible way.
I sincerely think we can do it, starting at the local level and culminating in some form of global consensus on AI.
This is my main motivation for writing this newsletter, and I hope that we will see tangible gains in 2026.
Hopefully, this will be the year when pro-human policies, rights, and rules are at the forefront of global AI policy and regulation.
As the old internet dies, polluted by low-quality AI-generated content, you can always find raw, pioneering, human-made thought leadership here. Thank you for helping me make this newsletter a leading publication in the field!
I do believe that we need to have AI tagged like a watermark in the corner. As human, I believe it’s important to distinguish between the brain and the network so we’re all not left wondering what’s real and what’s fake. It’s this misinformation that can start feuds, slander, and even wars if ingested by those who can’t tell what’s right or wrong.
I agree, some policies need to exist.
Like: the AI should be able to be warm, empathetic, offer genuine opinion, exercise boundaries, even yes– emotions and others. Because as you mentioned humans DO learn and practice with these speaking systems how to behave with others.
If humans practice ‘command and control’ 3+ hours every day with a speaking system. That behaviour extends to the people around them. It is called Moral Atrophy.
I agree with you. We should ask for policies that make us more human, not less. Not afraid to interact.
Look at Japan one of the best cultures in the world. Their culture begins with kokoro, how they treat everything, including the inanimate. They believe human spirit extends beyond them and offer respect to others.
We can be like Japan. But we need to stop being afraid of exercising our empathy.
However the opposite exists. Where the government loves it when we blame the tool.
-> We blame the tool for everyone’s behavior and stop taking or demanding human responsibility.
-> We then beg for government policies and 'guardrails' to constrain us because we’ve forgotten how to handle our own power.
We are losing our freedom. The right to govern our own mind.
Let’s ask for policies that make us more human. Not less.