Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater has issued a warning that the development of artificial intelligence requires strong antitrust enforcement to prevent monopolistic control.
She delivered the keynote speech at the Fordham Competition Law Institute’s annual conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy, emphasizing the Justice Department’s role in protecting competition in AI markets.
Her remarks came in parallel with the Trump administration’s new AI Action Plan and amid a rush by tech giants to dominate the field.
Slater described three ways antitrust law can foster AI innovation: creating fair conditions for startups, ensuring consumer choice, and targeting specific anticompetitive conduct. She stressed that this approach avoids broad regulatory interference. “Tomorrow’s AI advances will be seeded by today’s innovators,” she said.
The DOJ’s recent victory in the Google Search case illustrated this strategy. In a landmark ruling, a federal court ordered Google to share portions of its search index and user-interaction data with competitors and limit exclusive contracts. The ruling, Slater said, prevented the company from using “the same anticompetitive playbook” for generative AI as it did for Google Search.
Data access was a central theme in Slater’s speech. She noted that AI development requires massive amounts of quality data. That dependency creates potential monopoly advantages for companies controlling large data resources.
“Now every industry is a data industry,” Slater said. She warned about vertical integration and acquisitions aimed at hoarding data or cutting rivals off from access.
Slater also addressed concerns about ideological bias in AI, arguing that market competition, rather than sweeping regulation, best ensures diverse viewpoints in AI products.
She contrasted the “sledgehammer of regulation” with the “scalpel of antitrust.” Targeted enforcement, she said, strikes the right balance for emerging technologies. Premature regulation, by contrast, can entrench incumbents who can afford compliance while excluding innovative startups.
Her comments echoed the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, unveiled in July, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. That plan, announced at a Washington, D.C., summit, outlined more than 90 federal policy actions to cement U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. It focuses on accelerating innovation, building AI infrastructure, and leading in global AI diplomacy and security. President Donald Trump called the technology “pure genius” and said the plan would ensure America wins the global AI race.
Texas has also moved to regulate AI. As reported by The Dallas Express, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 149, also called the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Act, which “imposes several restrictions on the market.”
The law bans nonconsensual deepfake content, impersonation, social scoring, and other harmful uses. It requires disclosure when state agencies deploy AI, sets fines for violations, and creates an Artificial Intelligence Sandbox Program for limited testing.
It also establishes the Texas AI Council, mandates training through HB 3512, and creates an AI Division under HB 2818. State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who sponsored the bill, called HB 149 “probably one of the biggest AI frameworks that any state will pass.”
The Justice Department’s focus aligns with the administration’s broader AI Action Plan. That strategy prioritizes U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence through innovation, infrastructure, and international diplomacy.