Equus ex Machina: AI Regulation and the Return of the Law of the Horse | by Adnan Masood, PhD. | Aug, 2026
A piece by Adnan Masood, PhD, published in August 2026 draws a parallel between AI regulation and the so-called 'law of the horse' debate in legal theory — the argument that creating rules around a single technology produces fragmented, incoherent law rather than sound legal principles.
Why this matters: The 'law of the horse' critique is old but sharp. It says that regulating a technology by name, rather than by the harm it causes, produces a patchwork that lawyers can route around and courts cannot apply consistently. That matters now because AI rules are multiplying fast. If regulators build frameworks around the label 'AI' instead of the actual risks — discrimination, surveillance, loss of control over decisions — those frameworks may look serious without doing much. The framing you start with shapes what you can actually fix.
Who should care: AI governance · Lawyers · Administrators · Compliance · General readers · Policy
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