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Congressional progressives are starting to pitch a multi-pronged artificial intelligence and Big Tech regulation plan, and they hope to find common ground with civil libertarian-minded lawmakers on the right.
“The foundational idea here is that you shouldn’t lose your freedoms because of the development of AI,” Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, told Semafor.
He’s focusing on increasing data privacy protections and restricting the use of AI for surveillance, including by denying the renewal of certain warrantless surveillance powers without reforms (a debate that has previously fueled collaboration between progressives and hardline conservatives).
Preventing the government from purchasing data on consumers could also be an area for bipartisan collaboration, he argued: “We should push to go further than that and block the data broker loophole that allows for the government to work through corporations to get data from you.”
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Casar has been on a media blitz pitching progressives’ AI proposals, which have ranged from a ban on AI superintelligence to a tax on the technology to pay for a jobs program that offsets related layoffs. Although House Democrats are still in the minority, there’s tremendous appetite in the caucus to drive forward on AI regulation next year if Democrats flip the chamber this fall.
That’s led to a series of parallel initiatives, including a bipartisan draft bill from Reps. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., and Jim Obernolte, R-Calif., as well as a Democratic-led commission of lawmakers that’s expected to put out its own proposals.
Casar said he interprets the current backlash against AI data center construction at the local level as “tremors of a bigger political earthquake coming” on the advanced technology. “When people start losing their jobs, I think there’s going to be even more pushback on this from Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters,” he said.