From about 1990 to 2020, the American political system acknowledged the appalling impacts of climate change in the abstract but resisted taking meaningful action to mitigate them because the problem was too remote. Once the problem actually started to manifest itself in more and more powerful hurricanes, the system then threw up its hands and said it was too late–the damage had already been done. Changes to conditions on the ground overpowered the system’s ability to direct them.
The same could well happen with AI regulation. All the tech barons need to do is jam up the system, make idle promises about sharing wealth, and run out the clock. By the time we better understand what the policy implications of AI really are, it will be too late to stop the juggernaut.