asad ramzanali

From city councils to Congress, there’s a growing desire to tax AI, but policymakers don’t always know their options. My new paper outlines 34 ways to tax AI across data centers, chips, data, AI products, automation & general tax reforms. vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/ai-isnt-pa...

And the AI industry receives sales tax exemptions, property tax abatements, bonus depreciation & preferential tax treatment for investors. If AI takes jobs, the tax base shrinks further: ~3/4 of fed. tax revenue comes from taxes on labor. Now is the time to tax AI.

From city councils to Congress, there’s a growing desire to tax AI, but policymakers don’t always know their options. My new paper outlines 34 ways to tax AI across data centers, chips, data, AI products, automation & general tax reforms. vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/ai-isnt-pa...

News: I’m leading the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator’s new AI Governance Project! AI is reshaping the econ, work, security & culture, but largely at the direction of private actors. AGP will build policy that centers the public's interest vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/announcing...

We’ll hit the ground running. On deck this month: a brief on how to apply utility-style regulation to AI & a paper mapping ways to tax AI at the local, state & fed. levels. Subscribe to stay updated.

News: I’m leading the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator’s new AI Governance Project! AI is reshaping the econ, work, security & culture, but largely at the direction of private actors. AGP will build policy that centers the public's interest vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/announcing...

Fed gov't employees are using AI to revoke visas, patient care for vets, & military ops. Last month the Nat'l Archives said most of that use of AI doesn't count as “records” under the Fed Records Act. Margaret Mullins & I analyze the guidance vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/federal-em...

A court found Google illegally monopolized Search but denied major remedies, betting genAI would discipline the monopoly. Joel Thayer & I argue why that's wrong. www.promarket.org/2026/09/02/g...

Cash, compute & data Google got from its Search monopoly became essential inputs to Gemini. And genAI is no check. It’s already concentrated & Google's vertically integrated across the whole stack: Search, Chrome & Android for distro; Gemini models, Cloud & TPUs for compute

This wk, @joellthayer.bsky.social & I filed an amicus brief in the U.S. v. Google appeal. A federal court found Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly, then denied remedies commensurate with the problem because genAI might discipline that monopoly (what can't AI do?!). 1/4

And genAI isn't a competitive check. It's already concentrated, and Google is vertically integrated across the whole stack. Google has a distribution advantage: >40% of searches return an AI Overview. 3/4

This wk, @joellthayer.bsky.social & I filed an amicus brief in the U.S. v. Google appeal. A federal court found Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly, then denied remedies commensurate with the problem because genAI might discipline that monopoly (what can't AI do?!). 1/4

The right policy approach to AI isn't do-nothing or wait-and-see; it's resilience. @ganeshsitaraman.bsky.social & I lay out a proactive, structural strategy across the economy, society, & nat sec in a paper published by Rand. Summary: vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/resilience...

For months, financiers, policymakers, & technologists have warned about an AI bubble as trillions in investment chase billions in revenue. But almost no one is asking what to do after it bursts. My new paper lays out how a crash might happen & bold proposals for after the crash.

Then Congress should go big on reforms: a Glass-Steagall for AI separating algorithms from data centers. A public cloud built from stranded data center assets. A Digital WPA for jobs. A new digital regulator. Ban extractive / surveillance business models. And more.

For months, financiers, policymakers, & technologists have warned about an AI bubble as trillions in investment chase billions in revenue. But almost no one is asking what to do after it bursts. My new paper lays out how a crash might happen & bold proposals for after the crash.

This isn't a dot-com replay. The Mag Seven are ~35% of the stock market and borrowing at record levels. Circular financing, off-balance-sheet SPVs, and private credit link these companies to each other and the whole financial system. This is more like 2008 than 2000.

For months, financiers, policymakers, & technologists have warned about an AI bubble as trillions in investment chase billions in revenue. But almost no one is asking what to do after it bursts. My new paper lays out how a crash might happen & bold proposals for after the crash.

Paper here: cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp-co... Summary on substack here: vanderbiltpolicyaccelerator.substack.com/p/after-the-...

People assume that gov’t inaction is the best policy strategy to support Little Tech. We pulled together conservative, progressives, LT companies, investors and found 7 discrete fed. & state policies to support Little Tech that could garner bipartisan and industry support.

full paper: cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp-co...

I’ve got a new report w/ Akhil Rajan recommending AI Neutrality. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google control ~90% of AI model API revenues. They also compete with their customers, creating unavoidable conflicts of interest and opportunities to abuse power. cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp-co...

Those conflicts aren’t hypothetical. Last year, Anthropic cut off API access to the AI coding agent Windsurf while its own Claude Code was gaining traction, showing how model providers can act as gatekeepers and pick winners and losers.

Digging up roads is 75–90% of the cost of deploying broadband, yet we keep excavating again & again. A smarter approach: install conduit when roads are open. @bendinovelli.bsky.social and my new paper explains why most Dig Once policies fall short & how to fix them cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp-co...