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Slade Bond

@sladebond.bsky.social

Chair, Policy at Cuneo, Gilbert, & LaDuca LLP. Former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the Justice Department, Chief Counsel at the House Antitrust Subcommittee.

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Reposted by Slade Bond

nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Why are AI firms w/big legal teams worried about antitrust liability when there's 100 yrs of jurisprudence in their favor? "They want a blank check. They don’t like product liability, they don’t like copyright, and now they don’t like antitrust.” @sladebond.bsky.social gift link t.co/iRJa0pocyE

Slade Bond, a former Biden Justice Department official, said courts for a century have allowed companies to cooperate for the purpose of public safety. Companies can’t invoke safety as pretext for suppressing competition for other, illegal reasons. But a deal between AI companies to prevent a cataclysmal event, such as a financial crisis induced by a bot swarm, would be viewed as pro-competitive under the Sherman Antitrust Act, an 1890 statute that undergirds U.S. competition policy.

Asking the government for a waiver suggests the companies are extremely risk-averse when it comes to potential liability, despite having massive market caps, legal teams and litigation budgets, said Bond, who was a lead counsel on the House antitrust investigation into the tech industry in 2019 and 2020.

“They want a blank check,” he said. “They don’t like product liability, they don’t like copyright, and now they don’t like antitrust.”

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Reposted by Slade Bond

nitasha tiku @nitasha.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Why are AI firms w/big legal teams worried about antitrust liability when there's 100 yrs of jurisprudence in their favor? "They want a blank check. They don’t like product liability, they don’t like copyright, and now they don’t like antitrust.” @sladebond.bsky.social gift link t.co/iRJa0pocyE

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