I'm not sure this is entirely fair.
Nobody elected the people who inspect nuclear powerplants either, but I still assume that they're doing a good job in protecting humanity. Even if they are possibly "highly priviledged".
Inspecting a powerplant does not grant you any actual influence beyond powerplant inspection. Defining the ethics of AI will potentially let you influence almost all aspects of our lives.
I assume nuclear powerplants are regulated by some entity.
yeah, I would hope lol
Unfortunately in many industries, companies are allowed to regulate/inspect themselves. Because they supposedly have more experience with it than the government, and it saves on government spending.