The future of AI rules is attracting the most curious, most anxious sleepers

Hello and welcome The controllernewspaper of On the edge Subscribe to tech politics, tech influence, and tech shenanigans in Washington, DC. (If you are not registered, you can climb here.) We’re back after a two-week break, most of which I was fighting in the Netherlands for a family wedding, and a trip to the Heineken Experience, which is really, really great. ~experience~.

Before I left, I asked everyone in Washington to enjoy themselves while I was gone. That didn’t happen, and I’m back in a political place that can be best described meme to Community where the room is burning. Let’s get into that.

If you want to know exactly how Washington Insider viewed the release of A Successful Person, Pope Leo XIVTo put Catholic teaching on artificial intelligence, let me take you into the real room of Washingtonians.

Here’s the scene: last week’s black-tie gala at the Waldorf Astoria, Trump’s former hotel, hosted by the Washington AI Network. Attendees, seen among dancers dressed as robots on legs: AI advocates, AI defense non-profits, tech industry representatives, tech journalists, Shark Tank‘s Kevin O’Leary, executive officer – Director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet OzDepartment of Administrative Powers of the Secretary Dario Gil -with me. The leader of the Pope Archbishop Gabriele Cacciathe Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, is there, giving a surprise address to the crowd, who are expected to celebrate the explosion of artificial intelligence. (Yes, Kevin O’Leary was receiving an award. It was really fun.)

The leader is trying to publicize the pope’s message of protecting people and society before starting to innovate and profit. But I don’t hear him. The salad courses are out, and Caccia is being drowned out by the clinking of dishes and people murmuring to their tablemates, because this is the best time to socialize.

Even most people are happy A Successful Personthe pope does not have legislative power, nor can he make difficult laws, so the pope has no problem in Washington. Throughout the dinner conversation, the AI ​​industry seems to be facing a vision. Oftentimes, lobbyists try to befriend everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, and nurture those relationships for as many years as possible without compromising either side. But this is impossible Donald TrumpWashington, where supporting a Democrat in the past can be seen as disloyalty, even to the tech oligarchs. (The billionaire is a commercial astronaut Jared IsaacmanThe appointment of a NASA administrator, for example, was cold for several months (After Trump learned he had donated to a Democrat.)

On the other hand, if they give him money and make him look good, Trump he can be content to give the oligarchs whatever powers they want and force the Republicans to do what they say. But even that control is difficult. Here’s a brief recap of the Trump administration’s latest AI push:

But although Washington can be chaotic and unpredictable, especially when Trump is president, there are two fixed points at the time that everyone can plan around: once every two years, the federal election will be held in November, and the winners of these races will be sworn in to Congress the following January. There will, inevitably, be another shift in power. But no one can hope for good WHO it will capture that power or what it will look like, which will lead to endless possibilities for the tech industry: What happens if the Republicans lose the House? What happens if they lose the majority of the House by one member, or 10, or 20? What does this look like, but in the Senate? Which Democrats will be in charge of which committees? What if Alex Bores are they chosen? What if a Trump loyalist pushes his Republican counterpart? What happens when a friendly Democrat is pushed by a progressive on something we have no control over, like their support for Israel? And so on.

But the interests of the tech industry could be a big problem in the coming middle years. It’s easy for voters to notice the impact of famous, instantly recognizable Big Tech CEOs who stood behind Trump during the inauguration, or the golden statue from it. Tim Cook changing the expected price of an iPhone, or a check from a tech giant to fund a fancy ballroom (of all things). In this context, it is easy for voters to draw a straight line from visible moments to the growing and unnecessary presence of AI in every aspect of their daily lives. The voters complain to their representatives, the representatives respond, and if they don’t, the voters kick them out in November.

Related reading suggestions: One of the things I will be using during that time is a reporter Molly Whitenew project, Tech Influence Watchwhich is tracking all of the AI ​​industry’s political investments in the coming years. White had started the project as a way to look at cryptocurrencies in the 2024 election, but in a post announcing its spreadshowed that crypto politics and AI were closely related – connected, in particular, by the fact that the funders and experts running AI super PACs were the same people. “PACs may look different from the outside, but they’re working toward the same goals: restricting the tech sector, reducing consumer protections, and allowing tech companies to take more profits and hurt people every day.”