- Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed calls for public ownership, utility-like government regulation of AI companies
- The idea of public ownership has gained traction in recent weeks as US Sen. Bernie Sanders, President Donald Trump express interest
- How and if the federal government should address AI has emerged as a topic of debate in Michigan’s competitive US Senate race
Artificial intelligence amounts to a “tidal wave” or “tsunami” that will reshape society, according to Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
And that calls for drastic action to protect humanity, the progressive Democrat has argued, saying in recent forums that “we’re going to have to get to public ownership” of AI and regulate AI firms as public utilities.
“I hear folks who say, ‘Well, that seems pretty intense, we wouldn’t do that in almost any other industry,’” El-Sayed told Bridge Michigan on Tuesday.
“But no other industry has the potential to fundamentally change the nature of the social contract, or cause human demise to the level that AI is offering.”
Related:
- In Senate forum, Michigan Dems debate Israel, agree to support nominee
- Michigan Dems clash on campaign cash, health care in Senate debate
- As energy prices rise, Senate candidates clash over clean power future
How the federal government should respond to the rapidly advancing technology has emerged as a topic of debate in Michigan’s fiercely competitive US Senate race, where El-Sayed faces state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and US Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary.
El-Sayed is the only candidate in the race to call specifically for public ownership of AI firms, though McMorrow has made AI regulation a touchstone issue of her campaign and Stevens served on a bipartisan AI task force in Congress in addition to working on several AI safety and research bills.
Treating AI like a utility could further complicate efforts to regulate a fast-moving product, McMorrow spokesperson Jackson Boaz told Bridge, calling the way utilities are regulated in Michigan “slow, often unaccountable, and somehow always more expensive.”
In a statement provided to Bridge, Stevens said AI companies “need to have real skin in the game in supporting our tax base and making sure that all Americans share in the wealth we’re seeing created.”
A path to public ownership?
The idea of opening up AI companies to partial public ownership has gained traction in recent weeks amid technological advances and massive data center projects that have drawn major investments — and major scrutiny — around the country.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week joined OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other AI executives for a groundbreaking on a new $56 billion data center complex in Saline expected to be operational by early 2028.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive who has endorsed El-Sayed for Senate, laid out his proposal for partial public ownership last week.
Because AI investors are benefiting from humanity’s “collective intelligence,” the public deserves a cut, he argued, proposing a “direct ownership stake” in the country’s biggest AI companies through a one-time, 50% tax that AI firms would pay with stocks.
“The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them,” Sanders wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
President Donald Trump, whose administration has already taken financial or equity stakes in various companies, has also expressed interest in a public-private partnership between the federal government and AI firms, telling reporters the idea of a scenario where “the American people can benefit from the success of AI” is “very interesting.”
In an interview with Bridge, El-Sayed said he believes that Sanders’ approach to community ownership of AI is “a really good way forward” but believes it needs to be paired with a strong, government-backed regulatory enforcement mechanism, whether that be as a public utility or through co-governance at the board level of AI companies.
He suggested that a system along the lines of federal banking oversight could be a good framework, adding that robust federal policy is necessary to regulate the biggest technological advancements society has ever seen, “and we are quickly running out of runway to regulate it.”
“Imagine what happens if the public owns half the stock, but then we don’t actually enforce the safety requirements and something catastrophic happens,” El-Sayed said. “That doesn’t help you.”
Proposed guardrails
McMorrow’s policy agenda aims to address AI safety risks and protect against job loss in the AI era. She’s warned that powerful AI models are currently being developed and released for public use with little transparency or safety testing.
Among other things, her agenda calls for independent safety review of AI models, a crackdown on AI-generated deepfakes, additional consent requirements on what personal information gets used for AI training and enforcing export controls on AI chips.
Boaz, McMorrow’s spokesperson, likened the need for AI regulation to automobile standards, noting seatbelts, crash tests and other safety standards were implemented not to slow down innovation, but to build trust and ensure safety.
“We can’t afford to let these tools go unchecked, or for our adversaries to catch up because we’re too focused on slogans or purity tests instead of responsible, urgent policymaking,” he said.
Stevens, who has worked on AI safety and research bills in Congress, said last week the US is competing with China and she wants to see “Michigan continue to lead on the moon shots of the 21st century.”
Her main goals now, Stevens said, are ensuring AI doesn’t lead to job loss in Michigan and developing a “clear, responsible policy framework” for the technology.
“Even before AI was in the news every day, I was writing and passing AI legislation to make sure we were using AI in a safe and ethical way and in a way that protected Michigan jobs,” she said.
Data center pushback
The AI boom is being fueled by nationwide construction of data centers, which have increasingly drawn public opposition at the local level. Several Michigan communities have introduced or adopted moratoriums on data centers, and lawmakers in Michigan’s state House and Senate have proposed a statewide pause on data center projects.
While several Michigan US Senate candidates have introduced comprehensive plans for data center regulation, none have called for the kind of national data center moratorium proposed by Sanders and other progressives.
El-Sayed said even if a moratorium is in place, wealthy corporations will still be chasing projects.
“You’re talking about the potential for dozens of dirty data centers to pop up,” he said. “What local communities are waiting for when they’re proposing moratoria is for the federal government to set a floor that protects all of them, and I think the federal government needs to set that floor.”
The ultimate winner of the US Senate Democratic primary will take on Republican Mike Rogers, a former member of Congress who has largely consolidated GOP support after coming up just short in his bid for another open US Senate seat two years ago.
Rogers — who recently became an internet meme when an AI-doctored image making him look more muscular went viral — has endorsed President Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence policy framework, which calls on Congress to prevent increased electricity costs as a result of data center construction and streamline federal permitting for AI infrastructure.
In March, Rogers said in a statement that AI is already making powerful advancements in medical outcomes, manufacturing efficiency and agriculture innovation, adding that a consistent national framework gives the US “an opportunity to take it all to the next level.”
“The choice is simple: lead the charge or fall behind,” Rogers said at the time. “Let’s get this done.”
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under our Republication Guidelines. Questions? Email republishing@bridgemi.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.