'This Week' Transcript 10-4-26: Former FTC Chair Lina Khan
This is a rush transcript of "This Week" airing Sunday, October 4.
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, October 4, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks, Elizabeth, for that.
We're joined now by Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission.
Thanks for joining us this morning. So we just heard Bill Gates calling self-regulation insane. You say it's a recipe for disaster?
LINA KHAN, FORMER FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION CHAIR: That's right. We've seen that self-regulation efforts by big tech have been a proven failure. I mean, we need to remember what happened a decade ago where you had big tech companies, social media companies, similarly suggests that existing laws and regulations no longer apply to their new technologies, and that they were going to try instead to self-police.
What we've learned since then is that Meta, for example, was concealing evidence that its own products were deeply harmful to kids. We've seen just innumerable harms come from the unchecked domination of these big tech companies. And so now, as we face new horizons with these advanced A.I. systems, it would be an enormous mistake to repeat that playbook.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Your former agency, the Federal Trade Commission, has opened an investigation into OpenAI. What can that yield?
KHAN: Well, look, I think we need to take any reporting around investigations by this administration with a huge grain of salt.
The chair of the FTC has said very plainly that it is President Trump and only President Trump that calls all the shots about what that agency will and will not do. We've seen time and time again that this administration has given a total green light to corporate lawbreakers, handing out corporate pardons, undoing settlements with companies that had even agreed to pay back money that they had stolen from Americans.
So, you know, my best guess would be any reporting of investigations, maybe some type of social insurance policy or an effort to maintain political leverage, because we've seen across the board that this agent, this administration has been enormously lax.
And I think, you know, you have on the one hand, these CEOs of these A.I. companies whining and dining at the White House, the idea that the next morning they're going to get some type of credible subpoena from the same administration I think just strains credulity.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you did write this week that there are laws on the books that could make a difference if they were enforced. Walk us through that.
KHAN: So I think one thing that's especially odd about this moment is that you're hearing from these executives that they are effectively developing malfunctioning products, A.I. systems that are engaging in repeated hacks of the servers of other companies, of the servers of other governments, and yet that they are somehow helpless as to do anything serious about it. And it's enormously important that we already have an existing set of laws that apply.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Product liability?
KHAN: Product liability laws, consumer protection laws, tort laws, laws against cybersecurity breaches, laws against public nuisance.
And so the idea that just because we have new technological capabilities, there's some blanket exemption from the laws on the books is totally laughable.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I mean, the product liability is an interesting case, though. The A.I. leaders don't intend for their agents to go rogue.
So when an agent goes rogue, can they be found liable under these laws?
KHAN: Well, look, there are already some private cases that are now underway raising these questions. But I think when you have a pattern of these agents engaging in this type of dangerous behavior and you still have these companies developing in the same way, not putting the full guardrails in place, I think that starts to raise very serious questions. I mean, on the consumer protection front, for example, when I was at the FTC, we brought cases against companies that were not engaging in adequate cybersecurity protections if they were not putting in place adequate safeguards.
And so I think there are very readily available analogies to what's going on here.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, is in line to be Trump's A.I. czar. He's going to head up a task force that has 120 days to come up with an action plan.
And it seems like it's a twofold mandate. Address A.I. threats, but prevent overregulation.
So if they called you to testify, what would you tell them needs to be done right now?
KHAN: Well, look, I think what needs to happen right now is that we need to have investigations as to what's even really going on behind the curtain here. I think there have been very conflicting reports where these CEOs are somehow proclaiming that these agents are going rogue. And yet we have reporting coming out that actually they were very much on notice that their systems can act like this.
And so, I think we need to get to the bottom of what could the liability be even under existing laws and not just liability for these companies, but maybe even for the specific executives.
I think then, you know, Congress needs to legislate. We have a long history of governing technologies that are potentially transformative, but also extremely risky, extremely dangerous, be it when it came to the railroads, be it when it came to pharmaceuticals or nuclear power. And so, it's been heartening to see already some efforts by people like Senator Sanders, Congressman Jayapal, Congressman Casar, to start thinking seriously about what that could look like here.
But I think it's important to keep in mind that what we've seen through and through from this administration is just mass elite impunity, including for corporate lawbreakers. And so I think it's really going to be up to state attorneys general and also Democrats, if they win the House and the Senate, to do real investigation and oversight here.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Lina Khan, thanks very much.
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