America’s AI Governance Crisis Is a Democracy Crisis
On Friday, the White House released its national framework for artificial intelligence, which urges Congress to preempt state laws, avoid any new regulatory body, and shield developers from liability. It arrives amidst a nearly 300-page draft bill from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and expected legislation from Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), chair of the House AI Task Force, who has said he is working on a bill on preemption.
The conventional reading has been that AI regulation is hard, technology moves too fast, lawmakers lack technical expertise, and encouraging innovation requires doing nothing to get in the way. That reading is wrong. What we are witnessing is not just a failure to govern AI. It is the predictable outcome of a decades-long project to dismantle the democratic infrastructure that would make governance possible.
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