AI + Competition – Speaking to the California Law Revision Commission
Artificial intelligence is creating new tech giants. Nvidia stock prices are soaring, OpenAI is dropping its nonprofit status, and longstanding Big Tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon are racing to preserve dominance. In the absence of competition within industries like tech, companies have more leeway to exploit their workers and harm consumers with little-to-no accountability.
So how exactly does AI give monopolists an edge?
Earlier this month, the California Law Revision Commission released its working group report on AI’s impact on anticompetitive corporate practice and possible guardrails to push back against it.
The CLRC working group focused on competition issues in contexts where AI plays a significant role in determining how firms compete:
- Algorithmic collusion
- Unilateral conduct
- Consolidation
- Merits of a digital sector regulator
You can read the full report here.
On October 10th, we were invited to comment on the report at the CLRC’s meeting Overall, we’re excited that the Commission is turning its attention to AI’s role in consolidating power in tech.
The CLRC is an independent state agency responsible for recommending reforms of state law, which help inform how the California Legislature amends, expands, or weakens areas of the law the CLRC has studied. The legislature directed the CLRC to study anti-trust, like California’s Cartwright Act. Anti-trust is the area of law that addresses and prohibits anticompetitive conduct, mergers, and corporate collusion that deprive American consumers, taxpayers, and workers of the benefits of competition. It’s vital that the CLRC’s report and recommendations are reflective of the experiences of impacted people, as their recommendations are likely to be adopted into law by the legislature.
The report addresses algorithmic price fixing and collusion in the housing market, an issue we’ve researched recently. We’re glad that Proptech is now being examined for its role in our housing crisis.
One caveat we have to the report is that we believe that collusive price-fixing schemes should be prohibited, regardless of whether the data is public or non-public. You can read our comments below:
Do you suspect that you’ve been the victim of rent-fixing software? Share your story with one of our organizers to help lawmakers and the public understand what change needs to happen—in California and beyond.
