Whether it is lifting net neutrality regulations, allowing AI to reach its full potential to benefit mankind, educating policy makers about content moderation, clearing legacy regulations at the Federal Communications Commission, advocating for greater spectrum efficiency, or defending business practices that benefit consumers but are disliked by antitrust enforcers, CEI punches above its weight. Coalition activity, relationships with tech and telecom journalists, media appearances, policy events, Capitol Hill outreach, op-eds, and in-depth studies combine to make CEI influential in the tech and telecom policy area.
Tech and Telecom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Lawmakers continue to embrace incoherent tech policy
As Congress continues its march to “rein in Big Tech,” some lawmakers seem unaware of how their stated goals conflict with each other. Members want…
News Release
Market-based Reforms Needed to Correct Failures of Universal Service Subsidies, Congress Urged to Act
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) highlights the pervasive failures of the Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidies and calls on Congress…
Blog
Good things happen when spectrum is allocated to the marketplace
There has been recent legislative activity on spectrum allocation, so it is a good time to remind ourselves why moving as much spectrum as…
Search Posts
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Politically homeless with John Tillman
In this week’s episode we cover an environmental conference in Miami, allegedly underfunded government schools, Google’s AI diversity debacle, and new…
Fox Business
Nobody is going to use Google’s woke chatbot unless they ‘fix’ its bias: Jessica Melugin
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is featured in a Fox News interview about Google’s woke chatbot: Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com Watch the interview on…
News Release
Supreme Court Today Hears Lawsuits Centered on Social Media Companies’ Property/Speech Rights
Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moody v. NetChoice & CCIA and NetChoice & CCIA v. Paxton. Jessica Melugin, director of…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Understanding AI with Matthew Mittelsteadt
In this week’s episode we cover Elon Musk’s controversial pay package, protecting children online, and the Biden administration’s slamming the breaks…
Comment
CEI comments on ‘right to repair’ petition for rulemaking
Docket ID No.: FTC-2023-0077 Introduction On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully submit comments on the Petition for Rulemaking to Protect Consumer’s…
The Dispatch
Let Parents, Not Politicians, Keep Kids Safe Online
Many parents today are rightly concerned about what their kids see on social media and how much time they spend online. And politicians have noticed.
Forbes
Surge In Academic Retractions Should Put U.S. Scholars On Notice
A December article in Nature highlighted an alarming new record: more than 10,000 academic papers were retracted in 2023 alone, largely stemming from manipulation of the peer…
Fox 5 Washington D.C.
Contentious Senate hearing on social media draws criticism
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is cited in an interview with Fox 5 News Washington D.C. regarding Senate social media criticism: View the interview on…
Blog
Crushed: The Weight of Heavy Regulation on Broadband
In the NFL, it’s a penalty for a defensive lineman sacking a quarterback to land on the quarterback with his full body weight. The NFL…
News Release
Regulators block JetBlue/Spirit airlines merger, making it harder for small airlines to scale up and compete
After a federal judge today blocked a proposed $3.8 billion merger between JetBlue Airways Inc. and Spirit Airlines, ostensibly out of concern about competition,…
Blog
The FCC snares broadband in web of regulation
In the children’s book Walter’s Wonderful Web, a determined spider builds webs that are too “wibbly-wobbly” to withstand the wind but perseveres until he constructs…
Study
Don’t Depower Crypto
Introduction In President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget blueprint,1 the president proposed a new tax aimed at the electricity use caused by cryptocurrency mining. Known…
News Release
Report: Energy Tax Targeting Crypto Industry – Bad Idea for a New Year
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report investigates whether the energy usage of certain cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin merits a targeted electricity tax on the industry…
Forbes
Artificial Intelligence Trends To Watch In 2024
Making predictions is always hard, especially in an industry moving as quickly as artificial intelligence. But as we stand on the cusp of a new…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: (De-)regulating tech and AI with Adam Thierer
In this week’s episode we cover social mobility in the 50 states, Elizabeth Warren’s revolving door with Wall Street, the latest…
Comment
FCC: Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 88 Fed. Reg. 76048
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) respectfully submits these comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) adopted on October 19, 2023, in the…
Comment
CEI Comments on Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) respectfully submits these comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) adopted on October 19, 2023, in the…
Blog
Khan’s FTC could harm America’s competitiveness abroad
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) threatens to put US global competitiveness at risk by pursuing stringent antitrust goals that target the largest American tech companies,…
News Release
FTC’s Aggressive Antitrust Enforcement Threatens U.S. Advantage in AI Development
According to a new study from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) newly aggressive antitrust enforcement toward tech companies…
Fox News
Why creating an international body for AI is a bad idea
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently re-upped his calls for a global body, akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to advise member…
Forbes
OpenAI Is Now Unambiguously Profit-Driven, And That’s A Good Thing
The recent drama at OpenAI, where CEO Sam Altman was briefly dismissed by the board of directors only to be rapidly reinstated, has sparked discussion about…
Legal Brief
Reason Et Al. Netchoice Amicus Brief
INTRODUCTION AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE Social media companies, large or small, offer privately owned and mediated spaces for people to associate and exchange ideas…
Blog
Important question: How many people will new AI regulations kill?
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a draft memorandum outlining new requirements for federal agencies using artificial intelligence (AI).
Comment
OMB Proposed Memorandum on Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence.
December 5, 2023 Docket ID: OMB–2023–0020 Proposed Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use…
Comment
Comments on Proposed Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence
To Shalanda D. Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit public interest organization committed to…
Blog
Central banks are watching. Let’s watch them back.
One of the biggest dangers of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), I and others have warned, is that it would give a government that…
News Release
Ex Google CEO’s Call for UN Organization Focused on Artificial Intelligence Would Be a “Historic Mistake”
At a forum on Artificial Intelligence in Washington today, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt endorsed the idea of an international body like the United…
Forbes
Effective Altruism Contributed To The Fiasco At OpenAI
In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday. Following a backlash on social media, the board…
Op-Eds
Creating An IPCC For AI Would Be A Historic Mistake
The recent artificial intelligence safety summit convened by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revived a bad idea—creating an “…
National Review
Biden Order on Artificial Intelligence Puts Too Much Faith in Regulators
President Biden’s executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) directs more than a dozen federal agencies to, among other things, “establish guidelines…
News Max
AI Not Science Fiction and Can Wreck Our Lives
News Max cites CEI’s James Broughel on the AI reality: Writing for Forbes, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute James Broughel did not mince…
Forbes
Biden’s New AI Executive Order Is Regulation Run Amok
Signed yesterday, President Biden’s new executive order on artificial intelligence safety is already making waves across the technology industry. While the intention of…
News Release
Biden EO on artificial intelligence rushes in with regulation rather than problem-solving: CEI analysis
The Biden administration today released further details about the president’s executive order on regulating artificial intelligence. CEI Senior Fellow James Broughel, author of a…
News Release
Biden executive order on artificial intelligence will be a problem: CEI analysis
President Biden is reportedly poised to sign an executive order aimed at monitoring artificial intelligence technology and moving toward new regulations for AI. CEI experts expressed…
Forbes
Biden Gambles On Industrial Policy Tech Hubs
The Biden administration last week announced the designation of 31 regional “tech hubs” across the United States, as part of a new program…
Blog
FCC wants European-style broadband regulation, would throttle American consumers
Aristotle said that nature abhors a vacuum so that every space in nature must be filled. Apparently, the FCC has taken inspiration from ancient Greek…
Forbes
Net Neutrality Resurfaces To Join The Bidenomics Regulatory Costberg
“It was always about government control.” —Commissioner Brendan Carr, Federal Communications Commission Open Meeting, October 2023 Just in time for Halloween, “net neutrality”…
Study
Rules for Robots – A framework for governance of AI
Introduction With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies in recent years, we have seen increasing calls for regulation to mitigate the…
Blog
Don’t drink the water: Why FCC treating broadband like a utility could make service worse
In its initial Fact Sheet, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposes to apply Title II of the Communications Act to affirm “that broadband service…
Blog
Net neutrality is political predation
It’s fitting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chose to dig up the net neutrality corpse just before Halloween. Now, our elected representatives need to…
Blog
Here we go again: FCC tries to bring back failed ‘net neutrality’ regulation
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposed rulemaking to apply Title II of the Communications Act and common carrier regulation once again…
Blog
In today’s age of musical abundance, we all live like ‘kings’
We are in the midst of an art renaissance, and very few people are talking about it. One person who is talking about it is…
Forbes
DC Politicians Roll Out The Red Carpet For Big Tech At AI Meeting
America’s tech luminaries gathered in Washington, D.C. this week, ostensibly to “educate” senators on the nuances of artificial intelligence. The convening, referred to as an…
News Release
DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Would Protect Competing Search Engines, Not Consumers
This week, the trial resulting from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against Google parent company Alphabet begins in a Washington, DC courtroom.
Fox News
Snapchat expands into AI with ‘Dreams’ tool: Tech frontiers ‘are messy places,’ expert warns
CEI’s Jessica Melugin is cited on Fox News about the AI Dream Tool: “We’ll see if people think this is super fun and great…
Fox News
We need to avoid a ‘ready, fire, aim!’ approach to AI regulation
The panic to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) came almost immediately after last fall’s release of ChatGPT popularized the technology with the public. Some industry insiders…
Blog
Don’t regulate AI. Defund it.
Just yesterday, Smart Home speakers were infuriating us with their confused and stubborn responses to simple questions. These days, the ascent of something closer to…
Blog
CEI Hill event shows how the FTC is burdening small businesses
Many have praised Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for her commitment to regulate “big business.” Under her leadership, the FTC…
Study
FTC’s Subscription Deception
Proposed Negative Option Rule has no opt-out from bureaucratic overreach Introduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a Negative* Option Rule Notice of…
Forbes
Careful: Misbegotten Government-Business “Blueprints” Can Lobotomize Artificial Intelligence
Atop numerous directives and another of Washington’s periodic “Bill of Rights” proclamations misconstruing who is protected from what by such documents,…
Staff & Scholars
Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government