The AI Safety War in My Back Yard

At a fundraiser in my apartment last week, New York assemblymember Micah Lasher has finished his stump speech and is taking questions from the audience. Lasher is the frontrunner by a hair in this month’s Democratic primary for the seat of retiring Congressman Jerry Nadler in New York 12. Slender and boyish at 44, Lasher’s Harry Potter glasses and slightly stooped posture make him look like the nerd he calls himself.

Last question: What’s your position on AI? So far, Lasher has been his usual self: articulate and enthusiastic, excitedly waving his arms. In a voice hoarse from the campaign trail, he lays out strategies for Democrats to fight back against the Trump Administration, or, once in power, to deliver benefits like first jobs for all young people and universal health care.

What’s your position on AI? Lasher stiffens. A note of anger creeps into his voice. “There’s only one candidate who has consistently stood up to big tech for over a decade. One candidate who has voted consistently for regulation of artificial intelligence. One candidate who is not backed by any of the big AI companies. That candidate is not Alex, that candidate is me.”

Alex Bores is Lasher’s chief rival. A trim young man of 35, with a fashionable beard and a strong tech background, Bores is a second-term assemblymember. Last fall he sponsored the AI safety RAISE Act in the state Legislature. The bill mandates developers of “frontier” AI models to maintain various safety standards. It’s essentially a version of the safety proposals of AI giant, Anthropic. As detailed in the Wall Street Journal, and the New Yorker , the RAISE act triggered an immediate multimillion dollar attack from Anthropic rivals affiliated with OpenAI and Trump companies. Suddenly, my mailbox filled with pseudo left-wing flyers denouncing Bores for supporting the agenda of the giant data analytics boogeyman, Palantir—where Bores had worked prior to running for Assembly. Anthropic affiliates responded with more millions to support Bores, vaulting him to national prominence as “the AI guy.”

But as reported in Politico, Bores has not consistently supported AI regulation. He has often been the only Democrat to vote against Lasher’s legislation, including bills to study the impact of AI on New York state jobs, to limit banks’ use of AI in lending decisions, to restrict employers’ us of AI in hiring, or to protect health data. Bores has objected to these bills mostly on grounds that they are too broad.

At the fundraiser, Lasher delivers the punch line: “Stand with Crypto has given Alex Bores its highest rating!”

Huh? What’s crypto got to do with AI? Everything. In fact, a major Bores donor is a crypto billionaire.

As an economist, I consider crypto the evil twin of AI. Like other transformative innovations—for example the automobile—AI has already brought enormous improvements in human productivity and collaboration by making it easier to find and share information. It also brings huge risks of accidents and deliberate abuse. Crypto was designed with similar intent: to make it easy to trade and invest anonymously, using computer-generated currencies that require neither banks nor government support. Unlike AI, crypto so far has mostly spawned an international economy of scammers, black-mailers, tax-evaders and fraudsters, including the US president and his family.  

Supporters of AI and Crypto—Libertarian or techno-optimist—believe technological innovation is leading humanity to a new world of possibility. Government regulation seems an existential threat. To the outrage of OpenAI, but like many traditional businesses, Anthropic proposes to preempt unwelcome regulation with self-regulation.

Alex Bores isn’t necessarily a hypocrite, running for office as the only guy who can rein in frontier AI, while quietly opposing regulation of AI for humdrum purposes like qualifying borrowers for mortgage loans. With his tech background, he knows more than the average legislator about AI. Well-intended legislation for any purpose is often poorly-designed, unenforceable, and even counter-productive. Bores could have a legitimate concern.

However, I doubt that Lasher’s legislation is seriously flawed. Before election to the Assembly, Lasher has many years’ experience on the administrative side of government, working for NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and recently for Governor Kathy Hochul; in that role, recently he crafted major legislation to pry housing development from the grip of NIMBY.

The Lasher-Bores confrontation is about much more than AI. It’s about a vision of government. Micah Lasher, veteran progressive government insider, sees democratic government as benefactor and protector of the people. Alex Bores apparently holds a more Libertarian view: people, and especially tech innovators, also need protection from government.

A vote for “the AI guy” would put one more big tech booster in Congress.

On June 23, the voters will decide. Not all voters, but the tiny fraction–13% in 2022--who turn out for primaries.