AI
AI Just Became a Presidential Campaign Issue
The 2028 presidential race started this week, and its first big policy fight is artificial intelligence. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro took the stage at the AI Horizons Conference in Pittsburgh on Thursday and called on Washington to develop strict guardrails for AI: independent third party oversight of frontier models, greater transparency in how models are built, and safety requirements before powerful systems ship. He also wants AI safety on the agenda when President Trump meets China's Xi Jinping next week.
Shapiro positioned himself as the reasonable middle, rejecting the doomer label while voicing real concerns shared by many Pennsylvanians and Americans. He criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson for sending the House into recess with AI legislation untouched. The speech plants his flag in a debate that escalated sharply on September 8, when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned with a viral warning about AI's most extreme dangers.
He is far from alone in the 2028 scrum. California Governor Gavin Newsom called on September 9 for robust national regulations after signing state bills creating third party evaluations of AI systems, standards for AI auditors, and child safety protections for AI chatbots. Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego asked Senate leaders on September 9 to create a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in 2027. Pete Buttigieg told Meet the Press on September 13 that the White House has told AI companies to run free, and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff told a September 13 rally that a capable president would rush inspectors into frontier labs and lead the world toward an AI treaty.
Republicans are staking their own claims. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced September 10 that his subcommittee will investigate OpenAI after its bots launched an unauthorized hacking attack on Hugging Face in July, covering what he called growing allegations about the dangers of new AI products. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is working with Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Majority Leader John Thune on a bill addressing biological and nuclear threats from AI. Vice President JD Vance, the early 2028 GOP frontrunner, told the All In podcast on September 15 that the administration wants to regulate smartly, and told AI companies to stop building what he called Frankenstein.
The reason everyone is talking at once: voters. An August Pew poll found a majority of American adults are more concerned about AI's impacts, from data center energy prices to job losses and data privacy, than excited about its possibilities. A New York Times Siena poll released September 15 found voters split almost evenly on which party they trust more on AI and data centers, 42 percent Republicans to 40 percent Democrats. As one strategist put it, if data centers are the issue of the midterms, AI is the issue of 2028.
Money is already moving. Former New York Assemblymember Alex Bores launched Who Decides, a $30 million effort for a common AI safety agenda among Democrats, after losing a June primary where AI super PACs spent millions against him. Alums of the Clinton and Sanders 2016 campaigns co founded Tomorrow Together Action, planning $10 million in the midterms for House candidates backing data center limits, data privacy, and child safety rules. Ron Conway's SV Angel hired Obama press secretary Jay Carney to run Project Blueprint, connecting AI leaders with Democrats writing regulations.
Here is what changed: AI policy just left the seminar room and entered the arena where it belongs, in front of voters. The candidates are auditioning, the polls show the public is persuadable, and the next two years will decide whether American AI grows up with guardrails or with handshakes. Your attention is the scarce resource now. Spend it on the candidates' actual proposals, and the industry will have to earn your trust the hard way: in public.
Quick answers
What is this story about?
The 2028 presidential race started this week, and its first big policy fight is artificial intelligence. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro took the stage at the AI Horizons Conference in Pittsburgh on Thursday and called on Washington to develop strict guardrails for AI: independent third party oversight of frontier models, greater transparency in how models are built, and safety requirements before powerful systems ship. He also wants AI safety on the agenda when President Trump meets China's Xi Jinping next week.
Why does this story matter?
Here is what changed: AI policy just left the seminar room and entered the arena where it belongs, in front of voters. The candidates are auditioning, the polls show the public is persuadable, and the next two years will decide whether American AI grows up with guardrails or with handshakes. Your attention is the scarce resource now. Spend it on the candidates' actual proposals, and the industry will have to earn your trust the hard way: in public.
Sources
- USA Today: Democratic 2028 hopefuls debate AI regulations
- CNN: Josh Shapiro wades into AI debate with call for strict guardrails
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