Susan Rice sits inside a widening argument on the American left as Bernie Sanders presses AI safety while the New York City Democratic Socialists of America says alarm over future catastrophe can pull attention from harm already happening. The split surfaced this month in public posts, comments and campaign messaging around AI and data centers.
On September 10, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America posted a carousel on Instagram saying, “AI alarmism and AI hype are the same story: both keep your attention on a science-fiction future to distract you from the real harms experienced in the present.” The post, which received more than 25,000 likes, was authored by the Tech Action Working Group and drew replies ranging from “Horrible and dangerous take.” to “Sometimes sounding the alarm is justified.”
Bernie Sanders and AI safety
Sanders has spent the past year pushing AI safety into the political mainstream, and in March he released a data center moratorium bill tied to federal regulation meant to protect “the future of humanity.” He was early to opposing data centers and has spoken about harms running from job loss to existential danger, a framing that places him in an unusual alliance with Steve Bannon.
That position also creates a practical split in the language used by left-leaning organizers and candidates. On September 9, six candidates affiliated with the Working Families took part in messaging tied to AI and data centers, signaling that the issue is already being folded into campaign strategy rather than treated as a future-only debate.
Tech Action Working Group response
Alan Dang of Tech Action defended the anti-hype approach, saying, “AI has become the latest tool of capitalist exploitation.” He added, “The damage that unregulated and misused AI is already causing is clear across the country,” and said, “As socialists, we don’t trust these corporations to craft their own regulations.”
Alexander McCoy, a Democratic strategist working on AI issues, argued that the camps are not mutually exclusive. “The same people concerned about frontier governance and the development of superintelligence are also addressing those current harms,” McCoy said. “We should address all these other important factors.” He also said, “Those frontier AI abilities are true and increasing in power.” “They are not fake or hype.”
The debate now leaves left-leaning politicians and activists with a choice of emphasis: current harms such as data centers, labor disruption and corporate control, or long-term existential risk. That choice is already shaping how candidates speak, and it is likely to keep dividing the coalition around AI and the people trying to write rules for it.
