Progressives Are Listening to the Wrong People on A.I. [View all]

If progressives in Washington are serious about writing realistic legislation that curbs the excesses of Silicon Valley and prevents the worst effects of A.I. on the livelihoods of Americans, they should listen to the tech industry’s middle and working classes that comprise developers, engineers, analysts and small business owners. These are the people who have a grounded understanding of what A.I. can and cannot do, and whose experiences can provide priceless perspective to inform policymakers on how to implement regulation that matters ...Yet tech professionals seem more clearheaded than Democrats in Washington about what the tools actually do. A.I. is integrated into almost every aspect of tech workers’ day-to-day jobs, and they understand its benefits in addition to its limits.

Progressives should not only listen to these workers, but also support their labor efforts to pressure large tech companies to be more responsible stewards of this powerful technology. Hundreds of workers at Google’s DeepMind lab for A.I. development are protesting the company’s work with national militaries. As the war in Gaza progressed, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon tech workers in the U.S. protested their companies’ selling of A.I. technology to the Israeli government. And the AFL-CIO has adopted principles to protect workers across the economy from A.I. misuse and displacement.

Workers are standing up against the excesses and misuse of A.I. across the tech sector, even as their corporate overseers are utilizing the technology to monitor them. Empowering these workers can change the perception that the entire tech industry is in tension with the public, and more clearly demonstrate how pro-regulation forces have allies within Silicon Valley.

It’s not too late for the left to change course and address A.I. in a way that takes the technology and its potential danger seriously. But that will require listening to and heeding what tech workers say — less flamboyant than the promises of Silicon Valley leadership, but ultimately a better bet for the sector’s regulatory future and for the public good.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/opinion/progressives-left-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.7ylN.JUZHVCjqvuTD&smid=url-share