Paul Graham—Consistently opposed AI safety regulation as government overreach
Paul Graham expressed sustained opposition to AI regulation efforts, warning Biden's October 2023 Executive Order means 'government regulating private individuals' computing at an exponential rate.' He mocked UK AI regulation efforts and advocated for the UK to become a regulatory haven from EU AI Act restrictions.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Oversight | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.752 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.75)
Evidence (3 signals)
Mocked UK AI regulation efforts after meeting government advisor who wasn't sure what to regulate
On May 1, 2024, Paul Graham shared that he met someone helping the British government with AI regulation, and when asked what they were going to regulate, the person said he wasn't sure yet. Graham called this 'the most intelligent thing I've heard anyone say about AI regulation so far,' sarcastically mocking the regulatory effort.
Posted on X warning Biden's AI Executive Order leads to exponential government computing regulation
In response to Biden's October 30, 2023 AI Executive Order, Paul Graham posted that while he doesn't know the right approach to regulating AI, 'one problem with this particular approach is that it means we're heading toward the government regulating private individuals' computing at an exponential rate.'
Advocated for UK to become regulatory haven from EU AI Act
In May 2023, Paul Graham posted on X suggesting the UK could seize 'a huge opportunity' by avoiding 'the same mistakes' as the EU, positioning itself as 'a haven from EU AI regulations that was just a short flight away.'