The price of waiting: what Taiwan’s AI law reveals about regulatory uncertainty
As Taiwan advances its proposed Artificial Intelligence Basic Act, the debate has largely focused on familiar themes: ethics, principles, and the need for “responsible AI”. These questions matter. But they are not the most consequential ones. The more important issue is economic rather than moral. It concerns how law structures expectations, how uncertainty is distributed, and how delay becomes a rational response when judgement is deferred. Taiwan’s AI legislation offers a revealing case study in the political economy of regulatory uncertainty — and in the costs of asking markets to decide first. At a symbolic level, the Basic Act marks a clear shift. Artificial intelligence is no longer treated merely as a technical input or an industrial productivity tool, but as an object of public governance. Its deployment is recognised as having implications for legal responsibility, administrative authority and decision-making frameworks. Yet symbol and structure are not the same. The law’s...