AI has no future without credible regulation

A Supreme Court ruling and an outbreak of explosive diarrhea seem to have nothing in common, and certainly nothing to do with artificial intelligence. But they’re a warning to the AI industry about the danger of getting exactly what it wished for. On June 29, in Trump v. Slaughter, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the president can fire the heads of independent agencies at will. For almost a century such agencies have been shielded from political interference, with presidents only able to fire their leaders for cause. Meanwhile, a Cyclospora outbreak in contaminated iceberg lettuce has sickened more than 11,500 people. Both are signs of the weakening capabilities of the federal government. When Elon Musk — who leads xAI, a major AI company — ran DOGE, he gutted federal agencies, drove out many of their most experienced people, and left the rest demoralized, with Gallup finding a sharp drop in job satisfaction and a rise in burnout. Amid the same budget cuts, the network that tracks foodborne illness stopped requiring states to report Cyclospora. Food safety was one of the causes t