The way things are going right now, AI will not be used to cure cancer. It will be used to find new ways of extracting the maximal amount of profit for corporations. Grocery stores are implementing “dynamic pricing” which is just facial recognition being used to determine the maximum amount they believe you will pay for eggs & bacon. Landlords are using RealPage Software to price gouge renters. Spotify creates AI bands so they don’t have to pay royalties to real artists. AI generated images and videos are being used to avoid paying human animation and CGI artists. 

We can pass legislation that ensures this technology is used for the benefit of the masses. Instead, what we have now is a handful of people being made wealthy beyond belief while all of our lives become worse. We must regulate this technology with respect to safety and application for the public good over private profiteering.

It’s not just how AI is applied, the creation of Large Language Models (LLMs) through massive data centers is also negatively impacting Americans. These data centers are driving up electricity prices around the country for the average middle class citizen. Illinois alone has over 200 data centers and our electricity bills have all spiked dramatically in recent years. Yes, we must expand our energy production but in the meantime, the technology companies worth hundreds of billions of dollars should be responsible for paying the premium on the electricity they use. We cannot socialize the costs of these data centers while privatizing the profits.

Our communities are also being polluted by the construction and waste produced by these behemoth buildings. It is important to make sure these centers are constructed in such a way so that they are not radically disturbing the residents or completely destroying the surrounding ecosystem. Unfortunately, what has been happening is that AI companies are paying off local governments to approve data centers that their cities do not have the resources to support and allow them to cut corners no matter how fiercely the residents resist. We need someone in federal office that understands this technology deeply and stands up to these massive corporations (which in some cases have more money than many small nations).