A new paper by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Bonn warns that some of the world’s largest AI companies are already exerting outsized influence over the rules meant to keep them in check, in a pattern they describe as “regulatory capture”. The study, titled “Big AI’s Regulatory Capture: Mapping Industry Interference and Government Complicity”, argues that leading AI firms have borrowed tactics from tobacco, pharma and fossil‑fuel industries – including intense lobbying, legal pressure and control of key narratives – to steer global AI regulation in their favour.
The authors point to company engagement around the EU AI Act and international AI summits, where arguments about innovation, competitiveness and national security are used to push back against stricter guardrails. They call for clearer separation between regulators and industry, tougher transparency on lobbying, and stronger roles for independent journalism, civil society and external auditors. For governments wrestling with fast‑moving AI policy, the report is a reminder that who sits at the table when rules are written may matter as much as the technical details of the rules themselves.
