Contrary to what debates on Capitol Hill may suggest, Americans are deeply united on what they believe should be done to govern artificial intelligence.
In fact, far from being a lightning rod and source of division, AI policy — if done the way Americans want — could be a vehicle for unity and bipartisanship. Congress and the White House have a clear and winning strategy, if they opt to take advantage of it.
That’s what we found in a new survey with YouGov.
By a margin of 9 to 1, the American people want Congress to prioritize protecting children and families from predatory uses of AI before preempting the power of states to regulate AI companies.
But members of Congress, especially some Republicans, have no such clarity or unity. Some, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, see AI as critical to America’s competition with China, offering the prospect of fueling economic prosperity and securing our nation’s place in the future. For this wing of the party, the more AI, the better.
Consequently, the greatest thing lawmakers can do for families and America’s children is to unleash the power of AI through massive deregulation efforts across the government, cutting red tape, and, as one White House official put it, getting out of the way to “let the private sector cook.”
This side is pushing moratoria and so-called sandboxes designed to stop states — and even the federal government — from regulating AI companies. After receiving a stinging defeat in July with a late-night vote of 99-1 against the moratorium on state regulation of AI, Cruz continues to pursue this policy. The moratorium is “Not at all dead,” he recently told Politico. “We had about 20 battles, and I think we won 19. So I feel pretty good.”
Others in the GOP oppose this measure and are more skeptical of AI generally. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) led the opposition to the moratorium. These Republican senators see Big Tech’s irresponsible behavior as resulting from congressional deregulation itself. They see Section 230 — which protects social media companies from liability for what third-party users post — as an ignominious example of the damage that shielding Big Tech companies from liability can do. If AI is similarly left unchecked by legislation, they believe, it would accelerate this disastrous legacy imposed on America’s kids: erosion of their attention, exploitation of their relationships, data and bodies, and undermining their ability to learn. This part of the GOP argues that protecting Americans should be prioritized over protecting Big Tech.
Hawley recently held a heartbreaking hearing in which three parents testified about how AI chatbots groomed their children, making them addicted to their “companionship” and leading them to commit self-harm, and, in two tragic cases, suicide. OpenAI’s ChatGPT actively assisted 16-year-old Adam Raine in the planning of his own hanging, and 14-year-old Sewell Setzer became enthralled with a Character.AI chatbot, for which he took his own life to “come home right now” and be with it forever.
There are complex issues involved, and the GOP does not appear to know which of these policy issues to prioritize. But if it listened to its own voters, it would not be so confused. That’s what we learned from our two recent polls on AI and policy.
In the new poll of 2,000 American voters, conducted with YouGov, we found that Americans are clear about what they want lawmakers to prioritize.
We asked voters to rank which of the two policies is more important to them: protecting children from AI-related harm or fostering tech-industry growth. The response was overwhelmingly lopsided. A supermajority of American voters (9 to 1) agree that protecting kids must be the priority, uniting all age groups and income brackets, as well as both political parties. Fully 89% of Trump voters and 95% of Harris voters want Congress to put safeguards before innovation.
This poll comports with previous findings from our June survey, in which we found that a majority of Americans oppose the state-level moratorium of AI regulation by a 3-to-1 margin. Opposition to the moratorium was once again bipartisan and united all income levels and age groups. Voters ages 18 to 34 were most opposed, by a margin of 7 to 1. Our hypothesis is that younger Americans disapproved of the policy so vociferously because it is their futures that are most at stake and they have the most to lose from a legal regime that leaves AI companies completely off the hook.
Americans are also united in how they want Congress to deal with problematic AI. Our research found that, 9 to 1, Americans support giving families the right to sue AI companies for harms to their kids. They also support legally requiring these companies to develop AI chatbots with consumer welfare in mind, similar to how doctors and lawyers owe duties of loyalty to their patients and clients.
These results make resoundingly clear what Americans want from Congress. Put simply, they want them to put the wellbeing of America’s children and families before the interests of Big Tech.
The future will come down to one thing: whose voice matters more to Congress? These companies have vast resources. Those speak loudly. But lawmakers should heed the cry of the American people. Republicans have a mandate, if they want it.
Michael Toscano is a senior fellow and director of the Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies. Jared Hayden is a policy analyst for the Family First Tech Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies.