FTC is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over product risks
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Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.
FTC is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over product risks
Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.
Cipater · · focus · HN ↗
And if the FTC chair is not agreeable, they will be threatened by said lobbyists and eventually be fired.
If this sounds far-fetched, it is exactly what happened to Gail Slater, then-head of the DOJ's antitrust division and her deputies in 2025 over HPE’s bid to acquire Juniper.
Wall Street Journal archive link: <a href="https://archive.ph/IMer9" rel="nofollow">https://archive.ph/IMer9
mjburgess · · focus · HN ↗
"Gail Slater" is not a democratically elected person of any kind, and exists as a function of the executive, and hence of the president's policies. Insofar as the DOJ's anti-trust's leaders depart from the will of the elected president, it is that leader to be fired and replaced. Or else: what ever was the point of electing a president?
There's nothing in principle wrong in a president disagreeing with the execution of his executive powers, delegated to Gail, and hence firing him. Indeed, if that were not the case, the election of a president could never change the operation of the executive, making the election pointless.
If you disagree with the anti-trust decision, the issue isn't with the political mechanism by which it was over-ruled, but with the election of that president.
mjburgess · · focus · HN ↗
Suppose a president was elected that you voted for, that you agreed with was blocked by one of his employees... are you really trusting the hiring process of one of his predecessors?
No, obviously.
pixelatedindex · · focus · HN ↗
> you could say that congress has delegated "judicial and legislative" powers to the executive, whose will is embodied in a democratically elected president.
Bullshit. No, you cannot say that. “The non-delegation doctrine is a constitutional principle that Congress cannot delegate its legislative powers to another branch of government or to private entities.”
You get two downvotes for lies, one for each post.
mjburgess · · focus · HN ↗
However, this isn't the mainstream view -- but a radical departure of several hundred years of mixed-power agencies. See, eg., archetypally, The Fed. A wide variety of federal agencies are mixed powers, esp. regulation of businesses by the executive which is a legislative (administrators make rules) and judicial power (administrators decide if they apply). This is uncontroversial, I know of no view on this which denies this claim.
The "non-delegation" principle is about how far congress can enable other branches of government to exercise delimited forms of executive,judicial,legislative power. The "none" view is an extreme minority. No one things congress can hand the president the power to legislate. Most people think congress can create a framework in which certain details (eg., food/drug laws) can be created by agencies. That's the basis of the entire modern state, in any case.
There is nothing in my comment which can be "a lie", because its offering a theory of government which the original commenter lacked. Its not clear what theory of government is supposed to enable an executive anti-trust office with the power to intervene without a court, that isnt subject to presidential oversight.
People down-voting because they disagree with the theory of government offered is just as confused. The point of HN is to reply to something you disagree with, if offered in good faith, not to down-vote it. However I dont think down-voters had rival theories of government, I think they just resented a hate-thread being side-tracked into an honest discussion.
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