One very simplistic vision of big business and big government has remarkable persistence: the notion that the two are rivals, and that the purpose and effect of regulation is to curb the excesses of big business.
Some who repeat this error do so out of ignorance. Others are exploiting such ignorance for advantage. The news media, whose job it is to tell the truth, should not let anyone get away peddling this false model.
Yet it happens all the time. The latest instance concerns artificial intelligence and crops up in a Los Angeles Times article.
Democratic state Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is championing a bill aimed at banning “algorithmic discrimination,” and she boasts the support of tech companies Microsoft and Workday.
The Los Angeles Times quotes her: “Usually, you don’t have industries saying, ‘Regulate me,’ but various communities don’t trust AI, and what…
