Is Big Tech buying the AI debate? NY Assemblyman Alex Bores weighs in | Equity Podcast

The Pentagon is playing chicken with Anthropic over who gets to control how the military uses AI while communities across the country are blocking data center construction. As the AI debate has been flattened to “doomers versus boomers,” one state legislator is attempting to walk a middle road. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Alex Bores, a New York State Assemblymember and candidate for U.S. Congress. Bores sponsored New York's first-of-its-kind AI safety law the RAISE Act — and quickly became the target of a Silicon Valley lobbying group with $125 million to spend on attack ads. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:09 - A New York State Assemblymember vs. Silicon Valley 05:02 - The RAISE Act explained: What it actually requires 08:25 - The Leading the Future PAC & why AI companies oppose regulation 10:22 - Public First Action: The pro-regulation PAC 13:19 - The Effective Altruism boogeyman 16:47 - Meta's $65M spend on Pro-AI and California-focused PACs 18:27 - Will AI regulation look like banking or stay wild like social media? 19:25 - Upcoming bills: Training data disclosure & deepfakes 20:38 - Outro Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.