This plays into the big corps' plans.

Ideally they'd like self-regulation. If this isn't feasible (for example, because the public hates data centers and AI slop) their next best option is government regulation ASAP, because it is likely to be ineffective as written by our current government, and enable them as "too big to fail/too big to care" while any startups are suppressed.

But it's not just me saying it. https://shellypalmer.com/2023/06/ai-the-unseen-threat-and-the-agi-smoke-screen/

From the AI industry’s point of view, if regulators say no to self-regulation, the next best thing would be governments imposing regulations ASAP. Inept government regulation (and that is what we are likely to get) would practically ensure that big tech stays big and small companies are shut out of the AI innovation race because big tech is in a much better position to “game” any rules regulators might impose. [...]

There are probably less biased sources out there -- this author is the CEO of an AI consulting company -- but i think they're right.