Democratic political group launches new push to shape AI agenda ahead of 2028

DENVER (AP) — A Democratic political organization is announcing a new effort to shape how to talk with voters about artificial intelligence, deepening its investment on an issue that an increasing number of party leaders believe creates a stark contrast with President Donald Trump’s opposition to regulating the powerful technology.

Tomorrow Together was one of several groups that tried to counter the industry’s huge campaign war chest during the midterms. It pushed for new limits on artificial intelligence and data centers and spent $6.5 million on behalf of candidates calling for more regulation.

The latest research initiative, pegged at $1.1 million to start, begins as Democrats meet in Denver for the What’s Next conference, a two-day opportunity to celebrate their sweeping wins in midterm races and chart a course toward the next presidential campaign. It also comes in the wake of fresh warnings that the technology poses risks to humans as companies begin a new phase of development that will allow AI to build new versions of itself.

“We expect getting this right is going to be critical to winning people’s votes,” said Maddie Kriger, the group’s chief program officer. “It’s also not out of the realm of possibility we will see more and worse AI incidents in the next year, and we want to be prepared to move to help people and take action if that does happen.”

Democrats believe Trump has embraced a wildly unpopular position and handed them an opportunity to become the party that pushes for guardrails on AI development.

“I really think we’re watching the birth of a new political issue before our eyes,” David Shor, a prominent party data analyst, told the Denver crowd as he described AI as the rare issue where voters of both parties embrace regulation.

Karthik Ganapathy, a co-founder of Together Tomorrow, agreed.

“I’d rather be us than them,” he said of Republicans on the issue.

Some Republicans have distanced themselves from Trump’s pro-industry stance, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely believed to be preparing another run for the presidency.

Rob Flaherty, the other co-founder of Together Tomorrow, expects his party to still have the edge.

“At the beginning of the cycle, this was a jump ball. Voters didn’t know who to trust,” he said. Now, thanks to Trump, he argued, Democrats have the lead. “Regulating technology is where the voters are.”