As expected, and as usual, Governor Kathy Hochul has caved.
This time, she’s caved to the not-in-my-backyard types and the Marxists in New York, who are doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party in seeking to stop the United States from developing gains in artificial intelligence.
American communists, from Bernie Sanders to AOC and the Democratic Socialists of America, are pounding the drums in calling for a halt to artificial intelligence programs.
As if other states are the rest of the world will sit by as AI tech advances.
We are in a race with China for AI dominance. The nation that wins this race will control the foreseeable future.
Yes, AI has its dangers, but it’s best that it be in the control of America rather than our adversaries.
So the Chinese have wised up and started pouring in millions of dollars into community organizations in the U.S. to foment opposition on the local level to the development of AI centers. We play into their hands when we play along.
So Hochul signed a one-year freeze on the establishment of any more AI centers. Her opponent in this year’s gubernatorial election, Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, has a plan that is superior to Hochul’s: Leave it to the localities. Some may want the benefits that come with the jobs and economic growth from the AI bases. Others may not. Let them decide.
Let’s also note that we should be ensuring that those who benefit from the AI sitings be primarily responsible for the energy needs that come with it.
And don’t for a moment buy into this revisionist history being peddled by blue state governors that it is AI leading to high electric costs. These AI centers had just been on the scene in the last couple of years.
Electric rates in blue states have been skyrocketing over the last seven years primarily because of the Green New Deals that have been implemented by these states. New York’s electric rates rose 50% since 2019 and are now 70% higher than the national average. That had nothing to do with AI and everything to do with crazy policies that stopped fracking, halted natural gas pipelines, and subsidized inefficient offshore wind.
We can be vigilant in monitoring AI development, but we can’t put our heads in the sand and pretend that opposing its development will stop it in its tracks. The world will move on with us or without us.