Former FTC Commissioner Dismisses AI Doomsday Warnings

A former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner has dismissed warnings of an AI-driven apocalypse coming from major artificial intelligence research labs.

Alvaro Bedoya served as a commissioner from 2022 until his removal amid controversy in 2025. His remarks come amid public debate over AI speed regulation.

Bedoya noted that humanity has survived previous crises, and clarified he is not an AI advocate or claiming technology is harmless. He criticized the misuse of the "AI extinction narrative" as a pretext to justify monopolistic practices by billionaire AI companies.

He proposed a test for authenticity: if a company truly believed its product could kill everyone, it would immediately halt operations and call police. Instead, he argued, such claims are being used to mask anti-competitive behavior.

Bedoya referenced a 2014 policy statement by the Department of Justice and FTC that clarified antitrust law does not hinder legitimate cybersecurity information sharing, which should not be obstructed. He emphasized that safety collaboration is legal, while collusion to exclude competitors is not.

He connected these risks to economic realities: large research labs are still unprofitable and burning through cash, with open-weight models dominating price competition. Sam Altman similarly concluded on X that OpenAI does not need antitrust exemptions or legislation to begin work.

Beyond this, Bedoya called for consistent federal safety standards for advanced research labs but stressed government assistance is needed only in areas requiring international cooperation.