The greatest risk posed by AI may not be artificial intelligence itself; it is much more likely to be that we give politicians the power to decide who is allowed to build it, use it and benefit from it. That's the argument Marc Andreessen makes in The Techno-Optimist Manifesto - and history gives us good reason to take it seriously. Andreessen argues that technology is the primary driver of human progress and that AI represents one of the most important advances in history. Rather than treating it as an existential threat that requires state control, he sees it as a powerful tool that will expand human capability, raise living standards and solve problems that currently seem intractable. The case for heavy regulation usually rests on two claims: that AI is uniquely dangerous, and that governments are capable of guiding its development responsibly. Both are questionable. Past technologies - from electricity and automobiles to the internet and biotechnology - were also accompanied by dire warnings and calls for strict oversight. In most cases, premature regulation would have slowed or distorted progress without meaningfully reducing risk. Governments face the same knowledge problem with AI that they face with every complex, fast-moving technology. Regulators lack the information, incentives and agility to make good decisions about what should be allowed, restricted or banned. More often, regulatory systems are captured by incumbents who want to slow down competitors, or by ideological activists who are hostile to technological progress itself. The better approach is to allow innovation to proceed while holding individuals and companies accountable for actual harm under the law. Precautionary regulation based on speculative future risks tends to favour the powerful and the risk-averse at the expense of progress that benefits everyone. Andreessen’s core message is simple: the greatest danger is not that AI will advance too quickly, but that fear and political control will prevent it from advancing at all.