Big Tech’s $200M AI power grab is bad for California—and America

Capitol Weekly welcomes Opinions on California public policy or politics. Click here for more information about submitting an Op-Ed.

OPINION – The 2026 midterms are over a year away, but Silicon Valley is not waiting to make its presence felt. Led by companies like Meta and investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Big Tech recently pledged up to $200 million to Big Tech funded and operated super PACs in the months ahead.

Why? To convince elected officials—in California and across America—to oppose AI safeguards of any kind, and to punish those who dare to speak out against technology companies. Any sort of pro-safeguard rhetoric is on the radar of Silicon Valley, which seeks unfettered development and deployment of advanced AI agents that have the potential to upend society as we know it.

The dissenters face an uphill battle. OpenAI has already subpoenaed The Midas Project, an AI company watchdog, days after subpoenaing the watchdog nonprofit Encode. The anti-safeguard lobby will use campaign donations, state-level PACs, and a barrage of digital advertising to advocate for Big Tech’s interests.

There are already outspoken allies of Big Tech arguing that they don’t want states like California to legislate on AI. However, that line of reasoning ignores the numerous states—both red and blue—that have enacted AI safeguards for their citizens. As evidenced by Meta launching yet another super PAC this week to target state legislators across the country on top of its California super PAC, Big Tech is hoping that this argument will overshadow everything it is doing behind the scenes to advance its agenda. This cannot stand.

If there was ever a time for Americans to hold the line against Big Tech, it is now. Overwhelming majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents do not trust Big Tech CEOs to act in our best interests. Three-quarters of Americans believe that Big Tech has too much power in society. Even Barack Obama and Steve Bannon agree on this issue, as do most Bay Area residents who understand the ramifications of the technological advances in their backyard.

Haven’t we already seen the perils of unchecked Big Tech influence over the last two decades? For years, technology companies have released, upgraded, tinkered, and tweaked social media platforms to get us all addicted to their products.

From sky-high anxiety, depression, and suicide rates in teenagers to heightened political polarization and outright violence (see: Charlie Kirk’s assassination), social media addiction has harmed American society in potentially irreparable ways. And still, Silicon Valley pushes the limits, ignoring credible reports of influence gone too far.

And that was then. Today, AI has the potential to disrupt society in ways that dwarf social media’s immense impact. As a study from Stanford University acknowledges, AI is “poised to be the most transformative technology of the 21st century.” Back in 2023, Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson claimed AI will be even more consequential than the internet. Years before that, the Brookings Institution reported that the technology is “transforming every walk of life.” This is borne out by Nvidia’s recent $100 billion investment in OpenAI.

We don’t even know all the ways that AI will change our world. And yet, Silicon Valley would prefer that Americans just sit down and be quiet, accepting their self-righteous claims on face value despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Why wouldn’t we discuss and debate the merits of advanced AI? Or why wouldn’t we debate the effective safeguards that would ensure responsible research, development, and deployment?

In terms of medical innovation or scientific progress, AI can clearly do good for America and humanity writ large. But we cannot pretend that its impact will be solely good. We cannot ignore that AI will displace tens of millions of jobs in the coming years, nor the devastating impact of AI chatbots on our children’s mental health.

We cannot sit idly by as technology companies seek to become our overlords, centralizing more and more power within the confines of Silicon Valley. Some may trust Big Tech to implicitly do the right thing, but most Americans don’t. And they shouldn’t.

In California and the rest of America, elected officials need to pay attention. Big Tech is bringing big bucks to the AI policy debate, but money is not a mandate, and siding with Silicon Valley has political risks of its own.

We urge policymakers to weigh those risks and tread carefully with advanced AI. We all need to be Big Tech’s watchdogs.

Brendan Steinhauser is CEO of The Alliance for Secure AI, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the implications of advanced AI.