Sen. Mark Kelly on Taxing AI Companies, Data Center Revolts, and Working with Republicans
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., believes tech companies must work with communities upfront to prevent a wider revolt against data center construction.
Earlier this month, city officials in Chandler, Arizona, unanimously rejected a $2.5 billion artificial intelligence data center supported by ex-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
For Kelly, it reinforced a belief that tech companies must switch up their playbook if they want to prevent a wider revolt against data center construction.
Taxing AI Companies and Retraining Workers
Kelly has been especially active in AI policymaking, with a demonstrated interest in harnessing its possible benefits while also addressing risks.
He’s one of 15 members of the Senate’s bipartisan AI caucus and also up for re-election next year.
In September, he rolled out a 24-page AI roadmap that included a novel idea: Tax frontier AI companies if they kill jobs, and use the new revenue to set up retraining programs for displaced workers and upgrade aging infrastructure like the power grid.
Working with Republicans on AI Regulations
Kelly cited a 2023 estimate from the McKinsey Global Institute that projects 12 million people could be displaced from their jobs by 2030 as a result of AI.
He isn’t alone in the upper chamber. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner has observed the unemployment rate among new college graduates in the labor force has climbed to 9%, rivaling the levels reached during the Great Recession.
Kelly keeps tabs on AI’s impact on the job market and likes to use ChatGPT occasionally.
Bipartisan Cooperation on AI
Kelly sees opportunity for bipartisan cooperation on AI, despite Trump’s attempts to unilaterally enact a ban on state AI rules.
He has not spoken with Sinema, his former colleague and now a lobbyist, in recent months.
Kelly is working alongside Sen. John Curtis of Utah on a new bill to regulate social media algorithms.
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