AI | Tom Steyer for Governor

For generations, people have built their fortunes in California. But those fortunes should never come at the expense of working people. Here in the state that made AI possible, we win as a team – or not at all.

As the risks and opportunities of this technology come into clearer focus, it’s more important than ever for California to have courageous leaders at the helm.

We can’t let the AI era leave workers behind the way globalization left auto and manufacturing workers behind in the last century. We need to invest in tools that support and empower workers, not replace them. Because the California dream doesn’t work without work.

Tom believes that 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.

As governor, Tom will stand behind companies that lead with integrity. He’ll create more of the jobs humans do best. He will make sure all Californians profit from the AI boom. He’ll expand opportunities for companies beyond the biggest and most powerful few. And he’ll put safeguards in place to hold every company accountable for keeping Californians safe.

- Tom will make sure we protect workers and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs that AI can’t do. Regardless of its potential, AI will not replace all thinking and creative jobs. While it may make them faster or more efficient, no machine can replace our innate creativity, compassion, and experience – the uniquely human things we bring to our work.
- Tom will partner with labor to adopt reasonable guardrails for AI use in the workplace – especially when it comes to privacy, health, safety, and fairness.
- Tom will require social media platforms to conduct safety audits and strictly enforce age requirements, including requiring independent safety testing to make sure models are safe before they go on the market.
- Data centers should never cost California families a cent. Tom will mandate that data centers ensure energy prices for families go down – not up.
- Tom will ban social media for kids under 16, because the link between social media use and the youth mental health crisis is clear.
- There must be human oversight of AI with the ability to override, especially in critical areas like hospitals.

- As governor, Tom will ask voters to approve the creation of the Golden State Sovereign Wealth Fund, a dedicated investment vehicle funded by a "token tax" on corporate AI use – a fraction of a cent for every unit of data processed by Big Tech. Tom will make sure everyone benefits from AI, not just a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires.
- These dollars will help ensure everyday Californians share in the AI boom, through cash dividends, investments in education, training, and job opportunities to help workers succeed, and strategic investments to ensure broad-based economic growth so every Californian can get ahead.

- Tom will leverage AI to solve California’s hardest problems, from curing diseases, to strengthening public services, to preventing and detecting wildfires.
- Tom will make sure a handful of big companies aren’t the sole architects of that transformation.
- Tom will make clear to the thugs and grifters in the Trump administration: California built the AI industry, and we won’t let you break it.
- As governor, Tom will support small businesses and “little tech” – startups and entrepreneurs working at the frontier of AI development.
- Tom will ensure colleges, universities, startups, and small businesses have the low-cost computing power they need to innovate.

Make Sure All Californians Benefit From AI

Make sure all Californians benefit from AI

Support Tom's ai plan

Protect working people and families

Make sure Californians get a piece of the huge wealth created by AI

Make sure California continues to lead the way on AI — and not just in Silicon Valley

Download Tom's AI Plan (PDF)

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