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The first AI election

More than 30 candidates have signed an AI pledge as concerns over data centers, jobs and corporate accountability enter the 2026 midterm elections

Benjamin Fanjoy / Stringer via Getty Images

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The midterm elections are heating up, and AI has entered the race.

More than 30 candidates running for office around the country have signed a new pledge promising to put limits on the artificial intelligence boom.

The AI Pact, launched late last month by the Political Integrity Project, asks candidates to make five commitments: ending tax breaks and special deals for data centers, requiring safety reviews for powerful AI models, sharing some of AI’s economic gains with workers, making AI companies legally accountable for harms caused by their products, and opposing government bailouts for the industry. 

Its signers include candidates in races ranging from the House and Senate to campaigns for governor and state legislatures, across states from California and Texas to Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida. 

The pledge is voluntary, and some of its........

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