Alex Bores is probably not a politician’s name you are familiar with. He is running for a House seat in New York’s Twelfth Congressional District, and is currently a New York State Assemblyman. He previously worked for Palantir, resigning in protest of their government contracts in 2020. 

Ezra Klein from the New York Times recently interviewed Assemblyman Bores on his podcast. What made Bores so interesting to me is his ambition and leadership to regulate Artificial Intelligence. As a New York State Assemblyman, he sponsored the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, which required AI companies to publicly release “safety plans” that they followed and to also enact “safety tests,” similar to what the tobacco industry tried, to prove that their product was not destructive to consumer health. The companies would not be allowed to release a model if it failed their safety test. While the bill is somewhat vague in its language, it is by most standards the most comprehensive AI legislation in the country so far.

Now, SuperPACs and other interest groups funded by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and other AI companies are funneling millions of dollars into stopping Bores’ campaign and platform. 

What can we learn from this? AI companies are no longer marketing solely to corporations. The AI industry is attempting to make its presence known in every aspect of public life. Those cool ads on TV with MF Doom? Anthropic. Walk into the Apple store? “Apple intelligence” everywhere. Your local political candidate? Funded by an AI SuperPAC.

By the time young people our age enter the workforce, vote, and pay taxes, AI will probably be even more prevalent.  Neither of the main American political parties have any real policy agenda on AI and that will soon be a point of contention. Personally, I think the best thing to do is be aware of where you stand. Educate yourself more on AI: how the large-language models work; the companies and the “arms race” at hand; how it can seep into every part of our everyday lives. Lastly, if you are going to vote, vote for “AI-Smart” politicians. Politicians who know where they stand on policies regarding regulation, safety, and infrastructure. Remember that you are a human. You have agency. Chatbots do not.