AI & Tech Brief: Bores loses the big AI primary

Ah, democracy in action. Alex Bores, the New York assembly member who dared to champion AI safety, has been shown the door in the Democratic primary. The Washington Post gleefully reports that his loss is 'Big Tech's win'—because apparently, the most powerful lobby in the world needed another victory lap. Bores had the audacity to propose legislation that would require safety testing before AI deployment, unthinkable in a state that hosts some of the largest tech companies.

Now, the path is clear for unfettered innovation, which in industry parlance means 'we can ignore all those pesky alignment concerns.' The tech PACs outspent Bores's campaign by a factor that would make even Larry Ellison blush. The message is unmistakable: if you want to regulate AI, don't run for office. Or if you do, expect to be buried under a mountain of dark money. Bores's loss isn't just a local setback; it's a signal that the regulatory gap isn't closing—it's widening, with a bright neon sign from the tech industry saying 'Keep out.'

What's particularly delicious is that Bores was considered a moderate on AI—he wasn't calling for a moratorium, just basic testing. But even that was too much for the industry, which prefers to self-regulate, which is like letting the fox design the henhouse's security system. So now, New York will continue as a laboratory for unchecked AI deployment. Let's hope the experiments don't blow up in our faces. But if they do, at least we'll have learned a valuable lesson: money talks, and safety walks.