Time put “The People vs. AI” on its cover and profiled nine Americans fighting data centers, chatbot harms, and AI in hospitals. A companion essay argues AI policy has left the wonk phase and entered kitchen-table politics, but neither party in the U.S. knows what to say about it yet. (Andrew R. Chow / Rebecca Lissner)
- A Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, a Georgia utility commissioner, a pastor, a nurse, a former Google researcher, Indigenous activists, a Hollywood filmmaker, and Steve Bannon's former "transhumanism editor." What unites them across party lines is the feeling that AI serves tech billionaires, not communities.
- The sharpest flashpoint is data centers: activists stalled $98 billion in projects in Q2 2025 alone. Silicon Valley's response? Spend hundreds of millions on pro-AI candidates in the midterms.
- A companion essay by Rebecca Lissner makes the case that neither party has a coherent AI policy yet. Rising electricity bills, job anxiety, and a political vacuum could make AI a kitchen-table issue by 2028. It's already reshaping state elections.
