AI Policy for Whom? Reclaiming Governance from Capitalist Capture

Contemporary AI policy is dominated by hegemonic neoliberal ideology, embedding assumptions of individualism, rationality, and market fundamentalism into its regulatory frameworks. This is evident in major policy efforts (e.g., the EU AI Act or the OECD principles) which prioritize economic growth and innovation over justice, equity, and collective welfare, and in the current policy landscape that favors market incentives and private sector leadership while sidelining democratic control and structural critique. This paper questions these prevailing paradigms and exposes how they reflect and reinforce capitalist power structures through corporate lobbying, the pursuit of specific kinds of AI models motivated primarily by usefulness to capital, and the externalization of social and environmental costs. We argue that effective AI governance must confront, rather than accommodate, capitalist interests. Drawing on legal and political theory, we propose an explicitly anti-capitalist approach to AI policy, that centers on social well-being, redistributive justice, and democratic control over technological infrastructures. In doing so, we outline essential counter-balancing policy approaches to reclaim AI governance from capitalistic capture and advance just and sustainable technology futures.