On AI, Innovation, and the Politics of Fear
A challenge to achieve a more equal America
For almost a century, the United States has led the free world through radical innovation and fearless creation. Americans built the internet, GPS systems, and semiconductors through a belief that innovation breeds equality. That vision has, in large part, come true. Since 1960, we have cut the number of Americans living in poverty by half. American innovation helped to build, and then sustain, our network of alliances that has made this country the strongest in the world. We brought advanced manufacturing to nations like Taiwan and South Korea, both of which enjoyed sustained economic growth for much of the second half of the twentieth century. As we enter the next intelligence age, it’s important to remember this fact: When Americans innovate, the world benefits. For the strength of the United States, the prosperity of Americans, and the good of the world, the United States must win the artificial intelligence race.
The United States has, to the benefit of our country, let our innovators innovate and our regulators regulate. When the internet arrived for Americans in the early 1990s, the threat to brick-and-mortar businesses was real, if not existential. What would happen to Main Street if Americans bought their goods online? These were reasonable concerns, just as those hesitant to embrace the intelligence revolution are today. Our political leadership, led by President Clinton, worked not to curb the implementation of the web, but to promote sensible guardrails. We passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to ensure artists, not imitators, could profit from their work. We gave control to parents, letting mom and dad, not Uncle Sam, determine how their child could surf the web. The return on our investment? Controlling the infrastructure behind the web that billions connect to every day.
Sacrificing that type of leverage in artificial intelligence would be catastrophic for Americans. While I do not subscribe to the idea that our relationship with China needs to be antagonistic, I also do not believe that Beijing has Washington’s interest at heart, nor should they. If I were an aspiring member of the CCP Politburo, I’m sure I would argue that, for the good of the world, next-generation AI systems should be built by China. The reasons that the United States must win the AI race are the same as for China, with the potential to radically redefine military operations across the world. Advanced AI systems will be critical to defending against cyberattacks, just as they will be in launching them against our enemies. Right now, America is leading by empowering researchers at labs like OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic to research fearlessly. That isn’t guaranteed.
Unfortunately, many on my side of the aisle have derided America’s next generation of innovators. AI, to many on the left, is an abject negative with a few amorphous positives and many concrete negatives. Some concerns, like the protection of the creative fields against unlawful IP theft for LLM data training, deserve real solutions. We can deliver those, and more, by working with and not against founders and researchers. Antagonism and rushed legislation does nothing but burn valuable bridegs and alienate real humans who will drive this technology. Conservatism cannot be allowed to capture the nostalgia of the past and the excitement of the future. It is the left—the party that brought civil rights legislation, expanded healthcare, welfare, and more—that innovates for the American people. Let’s keep it that way.
Realigning the Democratic Party towards rational innovation will need to happen fast. Just over the past week, Tucson City Councilors killed Amazon’s “Project Blue” data center, a project that would have brought over 250 million dollars in taxable revenue to the city, along with dozens of high-paying jobs. In their explanation for denying the bid, the City Council noted excessive water consumption tied to the thousands of gallons needed to cool these megaprojects. This is in spite of the fact that “Project Blue” would be net water positive for the city of Tucson, with commitments to use reclaimed water, not tap water, in cooling.
The fact that fundamental truths are being ignored for political expediency represents a dangerous moment for this country. If the leaders of Tucson City Council were in charge of implementing the internet two decades earlier, would America still own the web? Or would they, as I expect, cower to fear of the future and surrender connecting the world to another government?
Political leadership requires fearlessness and belief, two traits that have increasingly been absent from Democratic leadership. I truly hope, and believe, that we can once again achieve a union between our innovators and our politicians. The fact that both professions have become an insult in our culture is antithetical to a fair and free society with a strong and robust economy. I am a young American, and one who will grow up with artificial intelligence. I will work, live, and learn in this age of intelligence. I want young Americans like myself, especially those less privileged, to earnestly benefit from this age of intelligence. I believe they can. For our children, and for our country, let us embrace this race for the future.
