Ajit Pai: Innovation, Regulation, GDPR

Ajit Pai is the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, where he served from 2017 to 2021. He’s currently a partner at Searchlight Capital.

Auren and Ajit delve into the intricacies of technology regulation, including the nuances of regulating AI and crypto. Ajit outlines the essential triggers for preemptive intervention, and the many unintended consequences of Section 230 and Europe’s GDPR privacy regulation. 

They also discuss the anticompetitive nature of big tech, censorship concerns, and the aftermath of net neutrality debates. Shifting to communication infrastructure, Ajit and Auren break down the amazing explosion of the commercial satellite industry. Ajit shares how the FCC is modernizing the broadcast spectrum for faster WIFI and better mobile connectivity. 

They finish with a discussion of the overall health of private equity– which firms will fare well coming out of the pandemic bubble, and which could face collapse as interest rates and valuations change. 

World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts. 

You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Ajit on Twitter @AjitPai.