In America, any rando can build and fly an ultralight, no pilot license needed, no medical, no mandatory inspection of the ultralight or anything like that. I guess the idea is that 250 lbs (plus pilot) falling from the sky can't do that much damage.
Flight / aerospace is probably one of the worst analogies to use here!
As you say, it is one of the most regulated industries on earth. Versus whatever AI is now - regulated by vibes? Made mass accessible with zero safety or accountability?
It doesn't hold. This is a prototype aircraft that requires no license and that has been mass produced for nearly the entire population of earth to use.
Speaking of which, prototype aircrafts with no license still exists in aviation. I can build a plane in my backyard and fly it legally, so long as it's small enough.
We're already well past wright brothers. We have trillion dollar companies selling LLMs, hundreds of millions of people using chatbots and millions* of OpenClaw agents running.
Talking about regulation now isn't like regulating the wright brothers, it's like regulating lockheed martin.
* Going by moltbook's "AI agent" stat, which might be a bit dubious
* Pilots to have a license and follow strict proceedure
* Every plane to have a government registration which is clearly painted on the side
* ATC to coordinate
* Manufacturers to meet regulations
* Accident review boards with the power to mandate changes to designs and procedures
* Airlines to follow regulations
Not to mention the cost barrier-to-entry resulting in fundamentally different calculation on how they are used.