Stoplight Report: National Campaigns are Ignoring Americans' Concerns on AI

Poll after poll has shown that Americans are apprehensive about serious risks from advanced AI. 

A September 2023 YouGov poll found that over 72% of Americans were “concerned” or “very concerned” that AI will develop harmful weapons, concentrate power in the hands of tech companies, replace human jobs, and manipulate human behavior. 

The top emotion Americans feel about AI is “caution,” “skepticism,” or “concern” – respondents selected all of these adjectives four times more often than the adjective “indifferent.” 

In May 2024, the Center for Data Innovation reported that about 62% of Americans described themselves as “worried” or “very worried” that AI would try to destroy or take over human civilization. The Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute recorded in October 2023 that 77% of Americans want the government to work on preventing dangerous and catastrophic outcomes from AI.

This week, the Center for AI Policy (CAIP) released a stoplight report to see whether all this public concern is translating into attention from Senate campaigns. 

And we were disappointed in the results.

CAIP looked at the campaign websites of Senate candidates in battleground states and Senate candidates running for open seats, as well as the presidential websites of the Harris and Trump campaigns.  Shockingly, out of 30 campaign websites reviewed, only 4 had even a single clear position on AI policy. The majority of these websites literally did not mention AI.

This is unacceptable and runs against what the American people are telling their elected officials and candidates for high office what they want to see done to ensure AI is safe.

As AI continues to grow more powerful and more widely deployed, the incoming Congress will have no choice but to address its risks. Americans deserve to know what the next President and future Senators plan to do about AI.

CAIP urges the presidential and Senate campaigns to promptly update their websites with clear AI policy positions to inform voters better where they stand and how they plan to vote.

If any of them are looking for ideas, CAIP is happy to meet with candidates for high office to discuss the three easy policies in our 2024 Action Plan and the dozens of AI safety policies in our broader Policy Menu.