Tech policy is only frustrating 90% of the time

Many technologists stay far away from public policy. That’s understandable. In our experience, most of the time when we engage with policymakers there is no discernible impact.1 But when we do make a difference to public policy, the impact is much bigger than what we can accomplish through academic work. So we find it fruitful to engage even if it feels frustrating on a day-to-day basis.

In this post, we summarize some common reasons why many people are cynical about tech policy and explain why we’re cautiously optimistic. We also announce some recent writings on tech policy as well as an upcoming event for policymakers in Washington D.C., called AI Policy Precepts.

Tech is not exceptional

Some people want more tech regulation and others want less. But both sides seem to mostly agree that policymakers are bad at regulating tech: because they don’t have tech expertise; or because tech moves too rapidly for law to keep up; or because policymakers are bad at anticipating the effects of regulation. 

While these claims have a kernel of truth, they aren’t reasons for defeatism. It's true that most politicians don't have deep technical knowledge. But their job is not to be subject matter experts. The details of legislation are delegated to staffers, many of whom are experts on the subject. Moreover, much of tech policy is handled by agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which do have tech experts on their staff. There aren’t enough, but that’s being addressed in many ways. Finally, while federal legislators and agencies get the most press, a lot happens on the state and local levels.

Besides, policy does not have to move at the speed of tech. Policy is concerned with technology’s effect on people, not the technology itself. And policy has longstanding approaches to protecting humans that can be adapted to address new challenges from tech. For example, the FTC has taken action in response to deceptive claims made by AI companies under its existing authority. Similarly, the answer to AI-enabled discrimination is the enforcement of long-established anti-discrimination law. Of course, there are some areas where technology poses new threats, and that might require changes to laws, but that’s relatively rare.

In short, there is nothing exceptional about tech policy that makes it harder than any other type of policy requiring deep expertise. If we can do health policy ...