AI as Political Issue

Only 17% of Americans think AI will have a positive impact on the country over the next two decades. It’s unnerving for Americans to hear the tech titans speculate on whether AI will destroy the human race, even as they go merrily along continuing to develop it without being able to answer that question.

Trump’s Position

President Trump is all-in on AI.  He wants America to be dominant in the field over China and other countries, and pretty much the only regulation he supports is to make sure it isn’t biased.  Other than that, his Big Beautiful Bill blocks states from trying to regulate AI on their own; he wants to cut red tape to facilitate building the data and energy  infrastructure AI needs; and he has taken measures to promote the exporting of America’s AI products.

Moreover, President Trump has already pledged substantial taxpayer money for the AI cause. He has spent $10 billion for ownership shares in companies that make semiconductors, nuclear energy, and rare earth magnets for AI.  He has redirected Biden-era funding to allot $150 million to develop lasers to make AI chips. He has directed the Commerce Department to set up a program to give grants, loans, and tax incentives for AI-related projects that need capitalization of at least $500 million.   He has also promised $80 billion in financing for nuclear reactors to power AI, authorized the building of AI data centers on federal land, and launched the $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project (a joint venture of the major AI companies with the federal government playing a permitting and deregulating role).

But Trump’s political base is opposed to AI.  Working class voters fear what it will do to their jobs.  Cultural conservatives oppose the humanization of machines and AI’s threat to education, families, psychological well-being, and human civilization.  Florida governor Ron DeSantis opposes AI, as are MAGA stalwarts Steve Bannon and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, to name a few.

President Trump has outlined his AI policy and goals in the document Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan.  Governor DeSantis has outlined his policies for limiting and controlling AI in his Citizen Bill of Rights for Artificial Intelligence. We’ll look at both of those tomorrow.

Democrats’ Positions

Meanwhile, Democrats are also wrestling with the issue.

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would make AI companies liable for the harm they do.  He advocates certain safety and “transparency” regulations, but has eliminated some obstacles for data centers and has incorporated AI into the California government and bureaucracy.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is even more positive about AI.  He has courted companies to build data and energy centers in his state and has partnered with Open AI to implement a pilot program that integrates AI with state government.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, though, is a vehement critic of AI, as is much of the Democratic party’s progressive wing.  And pragmatic Democratic political operatives see a major opportunity in opposing AI.

Politico‘s Calder McHugh has written an article on the subject entitled Americans Hate AI. Which Party Will Benefit?

It’s an argument that began in the progressive wing but is increasingly finding purchase across the party: Be proudly, loudly, without reservations, anti-AI. It’s not enough, these pollsters, consultants and elected officials say, to caution, minimally regulate and signal a friendly stance toward tech companies building AI. There is a massive, growing opportunity for Democrats to tap into rising anxiety, fear and anger about the havoc AI could wreak in people’s lives, they say, on issues from energy affordability to large-scale job losses, and channel it toward a populist movement — and not doing it, or not doing it strongly enough, will hurt the party.

Blue state governors love what the AI industry contributes to their state’s economy.  On the whole, as McHugh shows, Democratic politicians are staying quiet on the subject.  Both Democrats and Republicans have become dependent on campaign contributions from wealthy tech donors.

Grass-root Democrats, though, feel passionate in their opposition to AI.  If Trump’s working class voters fear what AI could do to their jobs, Democratic white collar workers feel even more threatened by the technology.  Teachers, journalists, lawyers, managers, academics, computer programmers and other “mental” workers fear being replaced by the artificial minds promised by the new technology.

Environmentalists, despising the triumph of technology over nature, also despise the triumph of technology over organic human beings.  They are also appalled by the environmental devastation of the city-sized data centers and the industry’s insatiable energy demands.

Plus, nearly all Democrats have an instinctive aversion for billionaires.  Except, of course, for the Democrats who are billionaires, such as Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, and the billionaires who fund them.

New Political Alignments

AI seems to have the potential to create new political alignments:  Grassroots conservatives and liberals coming together in a true populist movement to oppose AI vs. big business conservatives and liberals coming together to advance the AI agenda.

Illustration:  Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Ethics via Easy-Peasy AI, CC BY 4.0

[This image was generated by AI–note the misspelling of “Democract” for “Democratic”–but not by me.  Note how the votes in the ballot box are feeding into the personified AI.]