Will Democrats splinter on AI?
The combination of a new congressional majority skeptical of unchecked AI and empirical evidence of AI-driven R&D acceleration sets the stage for intense regulatory battles over frontier AI development and infrastructure.
What happened
Following major Democratic victories in the 2026 midterm elections, the party faces internal divisions over how to regulate AI, with proposals ranging from incremental disclosure rules to data center moratoriums and developer liability. Additionally, a new report from METR found that the pace of capability improvements at Anthropic has roughly doubled over the past year, driven largely by the use of AI in internal research and development.
Who it’s about
- Anthropic
- METR
- Bernie Sanders
- Greg Casar
- Scott Alexander
Source

Transformer
Will Democrats splinter on AI?
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