The AI industry just won a race — but lost the war

Alex Bores lost. So did the tech right.

New York’s congressional primaries on Tuesday were supposed to be the moment AI’s top backers definitively proved they could bend US politics to their will. Instead, they left behind a muddy stalemate that only raises more questions about whether their spending can keep pace with an anti-AI backlash.

The stage for the battle was set last year, when some of America’s leading tech investors launched a new, $100 million super PAC dedicated to electing candidates who were “aligned with the pro-AI agenda” and defeating those who weren’t.

Months later, this group — dubbed Leading the Future (LTF) — named its first target: New York Assembly member Alex Bores.

Bores had been the chief sponsor of the Empire State’s “RAISE Act,” which required developers of frontier AI models to follow various safety protocols or face steep fines. LTF fiercely opposed that bill. Thus, when Bores launched a congressional run, the super PAC sought to teach him — and his fellow Democrats — a lesson: Purse sweeping AI regulations and your next campaign will drown in a flood of opposition spending.

At first glance, it may look like LTF just achieved that objective. Bores lost his bid on Tuesday night to represent New York’s 12th District. Headlines deemed the race a victory for “Big Tech.”

But appearances can be deceiving. In truth, Silicon Valley’s libertarians are losing the fight over AI regulation — and the NY-12 race only underscores this reality.

The AI industry’s civil war

Bores lost. So did his enemies.

Contrary to LTF’s hopes, Bores’s loss is unlikely to dissuade Democrats from backing far-reaching regulations on AI, for at least four reasons:

First, the race’s winner, Assembly member Micah Lasher, is about as hostile to LTF’s vision as Bores was. Lasher co-sponsored the RAISE Act and campaigned on pausing data center construction nationwide, launching antitrust investigations into the major AI labs, protecting artists from “AI-driven copyright infringement,” prioritizing organized labor’s interests in debates over AI deployment, and myriad other regulatory constraints........

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