Tom Steyer Is Prepared to Take On the AI Billionaires |
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Tom Steyer Is Prepared to Take On the AI Billionaires
The California gubernatorial candidate understands exactly what’s at stake, as he explains in an exclusive interview.
Tom Steyer in Santa Rosa, California, on May 27, 2026.
Pope Leo’s groundbreaking encyclical on AI reminds us that the great debate of our moment is not really about technology. It is about the policy choices that will decide whether this new industrial revolution—which is destined to upend everything about how we work, communicate, organize society, and fight wars—will be made to improve the lives of ordinary people or the bottom-line interests of billionaires trying to become trillionaires.
Leo is clear about where he stands, writing, “Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.” Yes, he admits, “The word [disarmed] is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences and indicating paths forward for humanity.”
The Pope is right to be concerned and to be engaged in the debate about whether a handful of tech-bro CEOs will determine the future of this planet.
The question then becomes whether political leaders will challenge the rush by a few billionaires to both develop artificial intelligence and buy influence over the future of AI through massive political spending and lobbying efforts. So far, only a handful of elected officials and candidates have displayed the knowledge and the courage to join the debate on behalf of the many.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has stepped up in a big way, calling for a moratorium on the development of AI data centers to slow the AI-driven rush toward the robotification of workplaces, the amplification of disinformation, the elevation of surveillance, and the acceleration of weaponization. So has US Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who has proposed smart strategies for regulating AI, taxing tech billionaires, and ensuring that working-class Americans have access to the education, training, and opportunities they will need to get by in a future transformed by artificial intelligence and robots.
But they are the outliers in Washington, and it’s not much better in the states–except, perhaps, in California, where progressive philanthropist Tom Steyer is mounting a gubernatorial campaign that argues “the people who stand to profit the most from this technology shouldn’t be making the rules about how it is used. Otherwise, the AI era will be another boom for billionaires—and a bust for everyone else.”
Steyer, a long-time advocate on climate issues and a billionaire who knows his way around Silicon Valley, has emerged as the major progressive Democratic contender ahead of Tuesday’s intense open primary for the most powerful governorship in the nation. Polls show that Steyer, who has self-funded much of his campaign, has a good chance of being one of the two candidates who get through the primary and go on to face one another in November. And AI policy is a key part of his agenda.
Steyer pulls no punches when he talks about taxing the wealth of the tech elite, holding the industry accountable, and using the power of the state so that working-class Californians are not left behind........