Lina Khan
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Lina Khan is a legal scholar and former chair of the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Her AI-related work at the commission connected competition in model development and cloud computing with consumer protection, privacy and responsibility for harmful uses. She chaired the FTC from June 2021 to January 2025.[1][2]
Roles and affiliations
Columbia Law School identifies Khan as an associate professor of law. Her teaching and scholarship address antitrust, infrastructure industries, the antimonopoly tradition, and law and political economy. Her faculty biography describes research on how dominant digital platforms expose limitations in prevailing antitrust approaches. Her FTC chairmanship is a former appointment, not her current institutional role.[1]
Contributions and positions
Generative-AI partnerships inquiry
On January 25, 2024, the FTC announced compulsory information orders to Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI. The inquiry examined investments and partnerships between generative-AI developers and major cloud providers. It sought information on contractual arrangements, governance rights, competitive effects and access to essential inputs.[3]
The commission used section 6(b) of the FTC Act, a market-study authority. The announcement reported a 3–0 vote and described the work as building understanding that could inform later action. The inquiry's launch was not a determination that the investments or partnerships were unlawful. Khan's public explanation emphasized the possibility that dominant firms could use such arrangements to restrict competition.[3]
Competition and consumer protection
In prepared remarks for the same day's FTC Tech Summit, Khan argued that existing laws applied to AI businesses. She identified control of key infrastructure and inputs as potential sources of market power, and linked business incentives for model training with risks to privacy. Her approach called for scrutiny across the supply chain, including actors with the practical capacity to enable or prevent misconduct.[2]
The remarks also emphasized remedies affecting unlawfully obtained data and models developed from it. Khan treated competition and consumer protection as connected enforcement concerns: access to data can reinforce market power, while concentrated power can make abusive practices more difficult to avoid. These were her stated enforcement priorities; their application to a particular company depends on the facts and relevant legal proceedings.[2]
Selected works and official statements
- FTC Tech Summit remarks (January 25, 2024) — prepared speech setting out Khan's AI-enforcement approach.[2]
- Columbia faculty bibliography — guide to Khan's antitrust scholarship, which supplies the broader legal background to her AI-market work.[1]
Coverage and official records
The FTC's inquiry announcement documents the recipients, statutory authority and information requested. It is a commission publication, rather than a solely authored work by Khan. Columbia's biography separately records her academic position and the dates of her chairmanship.[3][1]
Related articles
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Electronic Privacy Information Center
- United States Federal Authorities
- Woodrow Hartzog
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Columbia Law School, Lina Khan, faculty biography. Accessed September 12, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lina M. Khan, Remarks at the FTC Tech Summit, January 25, 2024, prepared remarks. Accessed September 12, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Federal Trade Commission, FTC Launches Inquiry into Generative AI Investments and Partnerships, January 25, 2024. Accessed September 12, 2026.