Regulators are Grappling with Antitrust Principles in the AI Age

Commentary from Terrell McSweeny and Cort Lannin was included in a Law.com article covering their recent “Perils and Possibilities: AI Meets Antitrust” webinar. The article focuses on how regulators might struggle to enforce and interpret antitrust laws when applied to artificial intelligence (AI).

Terrell observed that sophisticated AI predictive tools are likely to raise new questions around cartel conduct, saying “it might make it easier to implement coordinated conduct; it might make it easier to punish deviation from that.”

Cort illustrated where the lines get blurry for enforcement. “You might agree to use a common algorithm, for example, and the result is alignment on pricing without ever actually meaning that or intending for that to be the result. The bottom line is that, in this world, there is a scenario where algorithms could produce cartel-like outcomes without the competitors ever expressly agreeing to do so,” he said.