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A grassroots movement is forming among everyday tech workers who are demanding their companies develop and deploy AI responsibly. And the Guardrails Alliance, a new super PAC dedicated to supporting AI legislation, aims to leverage that discontent.<\/p>\n
Democratic operatives Shaunna Thomas and Leah Hunt-Hendrix launched the Guardrails Alliance on Thursday with backing from tech employees, labor unions, and other groups, according to The New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOur fundamental belief here is that people still do have the power to stop this autocratic takeover of the Trump administration and the tech sector,\u201d Thomas told the NYT.\u00a0<\/p>\n Guardrails positions itself as a populist political movement that runs on small donations from people in the trenches of the AI boom. The PAC has about $5 million at its disposal today and plans to raise $15 million this cycle \u2014 small potatoes compared to deep-pocketed adversaries like Leading the Future, which has more than $100 million from tech leaders like OpenAI President Greg Brockman.\u00a0<\/p>\n Guardrails will buy ads to support Alex Bores, a New York congressional candidate who became Leading the Future\u2019s first target<\/a> and is running in the primaries next week. On Thursday, Bores shared an ad<\/a> featuring the parents of Adam Raine, the teenager who died by suicide after months of prolonged conversations with ChatGPT.<\/p>\n Bores is also receiving support from another pro-legislation super PAC, Public First Action<\/a>, which has backing from Anthropic.\u00a0<\/p>\n While OpenAI has tried to distance itself<\/a> from Brockman\u2019s donations, many employees are reportedly unconvinced, and several have voiced concerns on social media about Leading the Future\u2019s attacks on Bores.\u00a0<\/p>\n This year, tech workers have also mobilized to demand their chiefs end contracts<\/a> with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and urge the Pentagon to withdraw its designation of Anthropic<\/a> as a supply chain risk \u2014 a label critics say was imposed without due process in retaliation for Anthropic\u2019s limits on its technology being used for mass surveillance and autonomous warfare.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not about matching [Leading the Future] dollar for dollar,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWhat this vehicle is meant to do is be a political home for people who are concerned about the way the anti-regulation AI tech sector is trying to manipulate elections.\u201d<\/p>\n TechCrunch has reached out to the Guardrails Alliance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n