How to build a pro-AI majority before we squander Americas future

Gov.Kathy Hochul’s first-in-the-nation moratorium on large data centers carries one big lesson: Artificial intelligence has a politics problem that no amount of lobbying will fix.AI is one of the most valuable technologies ever to emerge, yet it’s increasingly losing the political battle for public support.Without that support, America will squander its huge advantages and fail to benefit from what it’s built.That’s why AI’s advocates need to consciously cultivate a pro-AI majority — and fast.The polls tell the story: New Yorkers backed a data-center moratorium by better than two to one in last month’s Siena survey.Nationally, seven in ten Americans now oppose a data center in their area, which is up roughly 30 percentage points in under a year.Hochul, in other words, isn’t defying public opinion; she’s following it.The risk of course is that more restrictions could be coming, including punitive taxes, permitting refusals and local vetoes — all aimed at the most consequential technology of the era.But good news: The raw material for a pro-AI majority exists.Assembling it, though, requires thinking differently about political coalitions — because AI doesn’t divide the country along party lines.Recent polling from Echelon Insights maps the coalition.Two groups form its natural base: Young, tech-enthusiast voters and optimistic center-right Republicans together represent about 30% of the electorate.Add college-educated suburbanites who like technology but remain lukewarm on AI specifically, and it reaches roughly 42%.The swing bloc is the largest group of all — younger, mostly female voters who are skeptical of AI but not committed against it.Win a share of them, and a majority is in reach.The key point here is that a pro-AI majority coalition can be built without flipping outright opponents.It’s about reaching technological optimists who haven’t yet heard a reason to extend that optimism to AI itself.Giving them one requires a better sto...