OPINION:
Democrats are at it again. We are 47 days away from what could be the most important midterm elections of our lifetime, and Democrats have found a new way to whip up hysteria.
They did it before with nuclear energy, global warming and COVID-19. Now, it is the turn of artificial intelligence.
Democrats are blasting Republicans as tools of the tech industry for wanting to go slow on the regulation of AI. Yet Big Tech itself is divided on the potential dangers of the technology. Still, there is a difference between concern and panic.
Some on the left, such as Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, want the government to have a 50% ownership interest in AI. As he is a socialist, it is surprising that he stopped at 50%. To turn over a new technology to the government is to create another U.S. Postal Service.
President Trump wants us to go full speed ahead on AI development. He warns that we are in both an economic and military race with China.
Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink agrees. “Winning and staying ahead in the AI race is probably one of the most important things for the United States to do, both from a military and economic security perspective,” he said recently.
Adam Thierer, author of “Permissionless Innovation,” warns: “If we get this wrong, the Chinese are there waiting. … They’re spending a lot of money to be the global leader. … Their values will come baked into their systems: censorship, surveillance and control.”
New technologies often generate doom-and-gloom forecasts.
When mass production of automobiles began early in the 20th century, companies that manufactured buggy whips warned of the consequences of this revolutionary technology. “Why can an automobile reach speeds up to 20 miles an hour?” they cautioned. “What will this do to society?”
Of course AI technology carries potential dangers and should be approached with caution, but that is not what Democrats want.
They want voters going to the polls in November convinced of a doomsday scenario: that if Republicans retain control of Congress next year, the end of the world will be upon us and the androids will elect Arnold Schwarzenegger our next president.
They have bet on the wrong horse.
Polls show that voters think the economy is the most important issue confronting us now, not a technology that few understand.
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