The Intelligence from The Economist
The Intelligence from The Economist

Fear-jerker: America’s AI backlash

June 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In a Democratic primary in New York this year, a former computer scientist named Alex Borris campaigned on tighter guardrails for AI firms. He had passed what he called "the strongest AI safety bill in the country" at the state level. Political action committees backed by big AI firms spent millions trying to defeat him. Other AI firms spent millions trying to support him, believing the industry needed regulation. Borris lost, but his opponent immediately came out on the day of his victory and said he too would campaign to regulate AI companies more strictly. The episode is a snapshot of a deeper shift: AI has become a politically explosive issue in America, and the fault lines do not run along the usual partisan trenches.

A rare bipartisan fear

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:15) **Introduction: AI as a Political Flashpoint in America** - Host Rosie Blore sets up the episode's main topic: the growing political backlash against AI in the US.
  • 2 (02:55) **The Bipartisan Nature of AI Fear** - Deputy Editor Robert Guest explains that AI anxiety cuts across party lines, a rare point of agreement in polarized America.
  • 3 (04:09) **Why Americans Are the World's Most Pessimistic About AI** - A Pew poll shows Americans are more pessimistic about AI than people in 24 other countries.
  • 4 (04:56) **Left vs. Right: Shared Fears, Different Framing** - Both sides worry about AI, but the left focuses on inequality and billionaires, while the right distrusts the California tech elite.
  • 5 (06:10) **The Data Center Backlash as a Symptom** - Opposition to new data centers goes beyond NIMBYism; many Americans oppose them anywhere, seeing them as a visible symbol of unwanted rapid change.
  • 6 (07:21) **What Can Politicians Do? The Redistribution Question** - The government's most concrete lever is redistributing the gains of AI if it upends the labor market.
  • 7 (08:25) **Outlook: A Defining Issue for the Midterms** - Robert Guest predicts AI will be a major issue in the November midterms, and the party that best articulates public fears will have an advantage.

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Show Notes

Americans are becoming more anxious about how artificial intelligence will affect jobs, society and even human existence. Republican and Democrat voters are unusually united in their concerns. Divorce rates are rising in China and the Communist party cannot stop them. And the politics of air-conditioning in a scorching Europe.


Guests and host:

  • Robert Guest, Economist deputy editor
  • Sarah Wu, China correspondent
  • Lane Greene, senior digital editor
  • Rosie Blau, co-host of “The intelligence”
  • Jason Palmer, co-host of “The intelligence”


Topics covered: 

  • Artificial intelligence, midterms, Alex Bores
  • Divorce, China, fertility
  • Heatwaves, Europe, air-conditioning 


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