Thomas, I appreciate this. I think you’re right that distributed governance cannot mean weak governance.

My point is that procurement, standards, and sector-specific regulators are already exercising real power, often before the public debate catches up.

That makes the harder question even more important: how do we make public obligations, red lines, and accountability clear across a system where authority is spread across many institutions?

And perhaps that raises another question: do we ultimately need a federal baseline AI law, or can a distributed system provide sufficient coherence and accountability?