{"id":973,"date":"2026-09-03T14:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=973"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:38:05","slug":"the-fight-for-serious-ai-regulation-just-won-a-big-victory-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"The Fight for Serious AI Regulation Just Won a Big Victory in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey won a major primary election victory on Tuesday, claiming another win for the left in this summer\u2019s struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party. \u201cTonight is a testament to the power of the progressive movement,\u201d Markey declared to a cheering crowd in which his young supporters celebrated a 65\u201335 triumph over his primary rival, US Representative Seth Moulton.<\/p>\n

Read more How Bernie Sanders Should Talk About Democratic Socialism<\/a><\/p>\n

It was also, the senator explained, a victory in the fight against what he described as \u201cthe criminal enterprises of Big Oil and Big Tech.<\/em>\u201d A longtime foe of corporate greed and monopoly, Markey made stymieing the plans of AI oligarchs a crucial part of his campaign. With progressive-populist enthusiasm, he promised to \u201ctax the rich, block the bombs, and stop data centers from polluting our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not a new fight for Markey. As the senator noted earlier this year, he\u2019s been \u201cworking for more than a decade to propose commonsense policies to take back unchecked power from Big Tech and put it into the hands of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what made Markey\u2019s victory notable was that, in the last days of the primary campaign, he faced and overcame a cynical attack from Moulton, who attempted to dumb down the AI debate in a way that he thought would turn voters against the incumbent.<\/p>\n

Moulton\u2019s primary challenge to Markey was always tough to fathom. A middle-aged congressman with limitless ambition but finite political skills\u2014as evidenced by his failed bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination\u2014Moulton tried to make the fight a generational struggle between a 47-year-old rival and an 80-year-old incumbent. The message never got traction because Markey campaigned relentlessly as an energetic progressive legislator with a record of standing on the right side of history.<\/p>\n

Yet Moulton\u2019s desperation to make the race a referendum on youth-versus-age made the last days before Tuesday\u2019s primary contest an instructive measure of the emerging discourse over AI regulation.<\/p>\n

When the two candidates clashed in a pre-primary debate last month, Markey gave an uninspired answer to a silly question about whether he uses AI tools on his electronic devices. He basically said he used the apps that were on his iPhone and iPad and left it at that.<\/p>\n

Moulton, who talked during the campaign about \u201cwinning the AI race while making sure our kids, our economy, and our communities are protected,\u201d seized on what he thought was an opening to catch up with an incumbent who was opening a wide lead in the polls. \u201cNot understanding the basics of AI\u2014the most important technology of our lifetime\u2014should be disqualifying for a U.S. Senator,\u201d he announced on social media. \u201cThis is why we need a new generation of leadership. The future is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he pinned the message to the top of his X feed. Then he made a campaign ad. Then the challenger said, \u201cAmericans are genuinely concerned about AI. Octogenarians in the Senate are not helping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Old and On the Way: How Ed Markey Dispatched Seth Moulton in Massachusetts<\/a><\/p>\n

The campaigns also traded charges about Moulton\u2019s investment in defense contractors, including \u201can AI firm that partners with the U.S. Army,\u201d and how Markey had received the support of a nonprofit backed by Anthropic, a firm that has supported AI regulation<\/p>\n

Amid all this bluster, Markey kept his cool, while Moulton revealed his na\u00efvet\u00e9 regarding the debate over AI.<\/p>\n

That debate is about a lot more than ruminations on the relative merits of ChatGPT and Claude. It is a fight over who will set the rules for our future.<\/p>\n

The mounting pressure to meet the demands of the AI billionaires\u2014to whom Donald Trump pays so much deference\u2014raises fundamental questions about corporate power, privacy, the future of work, and a host of other issues. These are issues that Markey\u2014long a leading Senate advocate for worker rights and consumer protection\u2014has been focused on for years. And they are issues on which he has displayed far more insight and agility than most members of Congress.<\/p>\n

Markey\u2019s detailed \u201cAI Accountability Agenda: Taking Power Back From Big Tech\u201d program pulls together groundbreaking legislative proposals to regulate data centers and to address the broader impacts of AI\u2014including the No Robot Bosses Act, which \u201cwould prohibit an employer from primarily relying on automated systems for work-related decisions such as hiring, firing, or promotion. The legislation would also require employers to disclose to their employees their use of an automated decision system; conduct detailed evaluations of an automated system\u2019s impact on workers before using the system; and provide an employee with the option to appeal to a human any decision involving an automated system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator has also proposed and supported legislation to create a human override option for AI decisions that might limit access to healthcare, infringe on privacy rights, or endanger children, and to prevent AI-powered algorithms from amplifying the biases and discrimination that is already embedded in society.<\/p>\n

Markey\u2019s even got a plan to prevent the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of AI oligarchs. His Equal Tax Act \u201cwould tax investment income at the same rate as ordinary labor income for individuals making more than $1 million. The bill would limit preferential tax rates for long-term capital gains and dividends, end the stepped-up basis loophole, restrict the use of like-kind exchanges by the ultra-wealthy, and limit the passthrough deduction for high-income individuals. By closing loopholes that reward wealth over work, the Equal Tax Act would ensure that the people who profit most from the AI boom pay their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voters recognize that the fight over AI cannot be reduced to election-eve jibes over which candidate might more ably manipulate apps on a phone. It is an existential struggle over questions of whether those with wealth and power will roll over workers, consumers, and civil rights. \u201cAmericans,\u201d Markey has explained, \u201cdeserve policymakers who are paying attention to their lives, not Big Tech\u2019s bottom line.\u201d By an overwhelming margin, Massachusetts voters gave Ed Markey a mandate to continue serving as that sort of policymaker.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Can\u2019t Stop the Populist Uprising Against Data Centers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Fight for Serious AI Regulation Just Won a Big Victory in Massachusetts - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=973\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fight for Serious AI Regulation Just Won a Big Victory in Massachusetts - Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=973\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-03T14:38:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"headline\":\"The Fight for Serious AI Regulation Just Won a Big Victory in Massachusetts\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-03T14:38:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973\"},\"wordCount\":1059,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/db5658cb28bfda5f7b1960c4ba4ab17d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=973\",\"name\":\"The Fight for Serious AI Regulation Just Won a Big Victory in Massachusetts - 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