In seeking a leading position in the artificial intelligence (AI) space through EU legislation aimed at securing innovation and market leadership and fundamental human rights, the European Commission’s ambition is to ensure that AI systems benefit all. In this chapter, I critically assess this ambition by historicising efforts to govern digital technologies and examining the characteristics of the contemporary “AI industry” and the discourses of selected governing texts. I argue that the prevailing imaginary of a technologically mediated future that frames governance in this space clashes with governing in the name of justice and the protection of human rights. Current governance initiatives are likely to restrain some excesses of a capitalist-inspired “AI industry”. If the prevailing imaginary of progress is not dislodged by resistance strategies, however, neither corporate-led technology innovation nor state-led governance measures are likely to yield a future consistent with their claimed support for human rights and greater equality.