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The Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan dropped by the hallowed startup incubator last week, part of what she said was an effort to hear directly from smaller players who don’t have the lobbying clout of tech giants. Y Combinator, for its part, appears to be crafting its own Washington strategy, including by bringing on its first public policy lead, Luther Lowe, earlier this month. (“We want to be the voice of founders in Washington,” Lowe said during remarks before Khan’s fireside chat.)
In a rare open dialogue between tech startups and Washington regulators, founders pressed Khan for details on the agency’s planned approach to regulating AI, including on how open source software could enable competition. Especially on AI, the discussion raised more questions than concrete answers; Khan said the agency is hiring more technical experts to delve into AI models, and noted that open source could be a “really key vector” in opening up competition.