Safety rules meant to slow down dangerous tech races often end up working like gas pedals instead.
March 24, 2026
Original Paper
When Brakes Accelerate: Braking-Device Inversion in Competitive Technological Races
SSRN · 6415059
The Takeaway
In high-stakes technology races like AI, institutions meant to restrain acceleration often undergo 'inversion.' Instead of stopping dangerous moves, they transform into legitimacy stamps that provide companies the legal and social cover to keep racing even faster.
From the abstract
This paper develops a theory of institutional inversion under competitive technological races. We argue that braking devices-institutional mechanisms designed to restrain dangerous acceleration-do not simply fail under competitive pressure; they undergo a structural transformation into legitimacy mechanisms that authorize continued acceleration. We term this phenomenon braking-device inversion. The argument is formalized through a repeated acceleration-restraint game: under competitive first-mov