Democrats' AI strategy is MIA
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
America is less than three months away from ... say it with me ... the most important election of our lifetimes.
- Yet the Democratic Party hasn't yet articulated its vision for artificial intelligence, a technology that promises to fundamentally transform our economy and society.
- It's a failure of leadership, and also exacerbates investor uncertainty.
Let's stipulate that AI is not a top issue on most voter minds, save for links between data centers and electricity costs, and that politicians tend to ignore sparks until they become fires.
- Moreover, parties don't write new platforms for midterms, with the quasi-exception of the Contract with America in 1994.
But that doesn't absolve Democrats — who are seeking to flip both the House and Senate — of providing almost no directional guidance on what could become the century's defining issue.
We tend to know what Republicans would do, based on the first 18 months of Trump 2.0.
- The macro ideology is laissez-faire, occasionally interrupted by micro squabbles. Bigger, better, faster — all in the service of "beating China."
- It's basically what Trump promised in 2024, which is why so many tech titans traded blue for red.
- If the White House does implement "voluntary" model reviews, then voters will know that too.
Democrats thus far have offered an assortment of one-off proposals — usually from the party's left flank — that haven't gained traction with the broader caucus.
- At a dinner in May, I asked Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) what Dems would do differently on AI policy were they to take congressional gavels. "Even just something small," I added.
- Markey's reply was that they would hold hearings.
- This came shortly after an Axios event in which Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) — a former venture capitalist and tech founder — said that Congress "desperately needs the AI community to come in and help us figure it out."
Democrats are pretty unified on issues like taxes, health care, antitrust, and Iran.
- But voters have no idea what most Democrats want to do about regulating AI models (foreign or domestic), using AI in schools, preparing for possible labor disruptions, taking government stakes in AI companies, circular economy risks, etc.
This isn't about picking the "correct" lane. It's about picking a lane at all, because that's the job.
