What do Democrats want for AI?

At last week’s Democratic National Convention, the Democratic Party and its newly minted presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, made little reference to technology policy or artificial intelligence. But the party’s platform and a few key mentions at the DNC show how a Harris administration would handle AI.

In the official party platform, there are three mentions of AI: First, it says Democrats will support historic federal investments in research and development, break “new frontiers of science,” and create jobs in artificial intelligence among other sectors. It also says it will invest in “technology and forces that meet the threats of the future,” including artificial intelligence and unmanned systems.

Lastly, the Dems’ platform calls for regulation to bridge “the gap between the pace of innovation and the development of rules of the road governing the most consequential domains of technology.”

“Democrats will avoid a race to the bottom, where countries hostile to democratic values shape our future,” it notes.

Harris echoed that final point in her DNC keynote address. “I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence,” she said. “That America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century, and that we strengthen, not abdicate our global leadership.”

The Republican Party platform, by contrast, promises to repeal Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI, calling it “dangerous,” hindering innovation, and imposing “radical left-wing ideas” on the technology. “In its place, Republicans support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing,” it says. (The platform doesn’t go into specifics about how the executive order is harmful or what a free speech-oriented AI policy would entail.) In his RNC address, Donald Trump didn’t mention artificial intelligence or tech policy but talked at length about beating back China economically.

GZERO asked Don Beyer, the Virginia Democratic congressman going back to school to study artificial intelligence, what he thought of his party’s platform and Harris’ remarks on AI. Beyer said that Harris has struck the right balance between promoting American competitiveness and outlining guardrails to minimize the technology’s risks. “The vice president has been personally involved in many of the administration’s efforts to ensure American leadership in AI, from establishing the US AI Safety Institute to launching new philanthropic initiatives for public interest AI, and I expect her future administration to continue that leadership,” he said.