For just over two years, technology leaders at the forefront of developing artificial intelligence had made an unusual request of lawmakers. They wanted Washington to regulate them. The tech executives warned lawmakers that generative AI, which can produce text and images that mimic human creations, had the potential to disrupt national security and elections, and could eventually eliminate millions of jobs. AI could go “quite wrong,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in Congress in May 2023. “We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening.” Story continues below this ad But since President Donald Trump’s election, tech...