The debate about how to regulate AI is unfolding as American tech companies race one another—and labs in other countries—to create ever more powerful models. Advocates of a laissez-faire approach to this technology believe that America should avoid overly restrictive regulations, because unlocking AI’s potential before other nations do could make this country safer and wealthier for generations. Their detractors believe that because AI models pose growing and possibly even existential threats to humans, the state should review them prior to release and limit early access so that good actors can get ahead of bad actors. The Trump administration has been on both sides of the debate. Last summer, it made the case for accelerating innovation and minimizing “onerous” AI regulation. This summer, it argued in a June executive order that national-security concerns justify early government access to new models. The administration also asserted the prerogative to pressure companies to take models offline and restrict access to users it vets and approves. And this came after a standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon that had …