# AI Now Institute argues AI policy should focus on power, not progress [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/ai-now-institute-argues-ai-policy-should-focus-on-power-not-d53c3f0b) AI Now Institute published this report on June 3, 2025. It argues that public debate too often treats AI’s direction as beyond society’s control, obscuring who holds power over its development and use. The report urges organizing around effects people can experience: workers’ influence over workplace technology, communities’ exposure to data-center costs and pollution, and large technology firms’ influence over government and markets. It connects those concerns to a political strategy: worker organizing, clear legal limits on harmful uses, independent oversight, scrutiny of concentrated market power, and stronger local control over data-center development. The report also warns that public investment in AI can reinforce dependence on large technology firms when it relies on their infrastructure without conditions serving the public interest. Its conclusion is that collective action can challenge corporate power and put technology in service of the public. It argues that public-centered innovation should not assume AI must be at its center. The retrieved text does not establish how effective these proposed strategies will be across different settings. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source AI Now Institute · Article Original source date: Jun 3, 2025 (2025-06-03T06:00:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-13T20:33:24.096Z. First observed: 2026-10-28T03:36:29.127Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-28T03:37:56.858Z. - [4: A Roadmap for Action: Make AI a Fight About Power, Not Progress](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 28, 2026; originally published June 3, 2025. The report advances a political and policy agenda; the retrieved text does not establish how effective its proposed strategies will be across different settings. Its guest contribution on worker organizing is by Andrea Dehlendorf, Senior Fellow. ## Open question What conditions would let public investment support alternatives without deepening reliance on the firms it seeks to challenge? ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that debates about AI should focus on power and public agency rather than treating technological change as inevitable. > this is a fight about power, not progress. We need not reconcile ourselves to passive alarm, nor engage in heedless celebration of speculative futures - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that worker organizing can influence how employers develop and use workplace technology, and can also challenge the technology sector’s broader power. > labor’s power can shape not just whether and how AI is used in the workplace, but can also recalibrate the technology sector’s power overall - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that data-center development can impose environmental and community costs, while claimed local economic benefits may be speculative. > The evidence that industry actors have provided thus far seems speculative at best - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that AI regulation should cover the system life cycle and require independent oversight rather than leave companies to evaluate themselves. > Companies cannot be responsible for their own self-evaluation, and are poorly incentivized to uphold any promises they make absent the foundation of enforceable law - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues public AI efforts risk reinforcing reliance on large technology firms when public resources are routed through their infrastructure. > Current public AI proposals rely too heavily on licensing, tax exemption, and provision of credits that ultimately reinforce, rather than contest, the dependency on cloud providers. - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute concludes that public-centered innovation should not assume AI must be at its center. > We Need to Reclaim the Positive Agenda for Public-Centered Innovation, and AI Shouldn’t Be at the Center of It - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source and contributor context AI Now Institute · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## AI Now Institute AI Now Institute studies the power and institutions shaping AI and advocates for public accountability. - [Explore this context](/entities/ai-now) - [Reference](https://ainowinstitute.org/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: ea0d657d-d7d9-2ecc-50af-e7006ae4e880. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-13T20:28:49.971Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model, second\_opinion\_categorical. Observation: 44fc3b219464f070b958727b733a813dfbb97145df8e6812a5c58ae357761d8a. Source text hash: 95d0af6835d98f1912d78ffedddff0a35c55c0e8ad60bb61ceb558bb139b4ce5. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-13T20:33:24.096Z AI Now Institute published this report on June 3, 2025. It argues that public debate too often treats AI’s direction as beyond society’s control, obscuring who holds power over its development and use. The report urges organizing around effects people can experience: workers’ influence over workplace technology, communities’ exposure to data-center costs and pollution, and large technology firms’ influence over government and markets. It connects those concerns to a political strategy: worker organizing, clear legal limits on harmful uses, independent oversight, scrutiny of concentrated market power, and stronger local control over data-center development. The report also warns that public investment in AI can reinforce dependence on large technology firms when it relies on their infrastructure without conditions serving the public interest. Its conclusion is that collective action can challenge corporate power and put technology in service of the public. It argues that public-centered innovation should not assume AI must be at its center. The retrieved text does not establish how effective these proposed strategies will be across different settings. ## Original source AI Now Institute · Article Original source date: Jun 3, 2025 (2025-06-03T06:00:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-13T20:33:24.096Z. First observed: 2026-10-28T03:36:29.127Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-28T03:37:56.858Z. - [4: A Roadmap for Action: Make AI a Fight About Power, Not Progress](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 28, 2026; originally published June 3, 2025. The report advances a political and policy agenda; the retrieved text does not establish how effective its proposed strategies will be across different settings. Its guest contribution on worker organizing is by Andrea Dehlendorf, Senior Fellow. ## Open question What conditions would let public investment support alternatives without deepening reliance on the firms it seeks to challenge? ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that debates about AI should focus on power and public agency rather than treating technological change as inevitable. > this is a fight about power, not progress. We need not reconcile ourselves to passive alarm, nor engage in heedless celebration of speculative futures - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that worker organizing can influence how employers develop and use workplace technology, and can also challenge the technology sector’s broader power. > labor’s power can shape not just whether and how AI is used in the workplace, but can also recalibrate the technology sector’s power overall - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that data-center development can impose environmental and community costs, while claimed local economic benefits may be speculative. > The evidence that industry actors have provided thus far seems speculative at best - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues that AI regulation should cover the system life cycle and require independent oversight rather than leave companies to evaluate themselves. > Companies cannot be responsible for their own self-evaluation, and are poorly incentivized to uphold any promises they make absent the foundation of enforceable law - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute argues public AI efforts risk reinforcing reliance on large technology firms when public resources are routed through their infrastructure. > Current public AI proposals rely too heavily on licensing, tax exemption, and provision of credits that ultimately reinforce, rather than contest, the dependency on cloud providers. - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source-stated AI Now Institute concludes that public-centered innovation should not assume AI must be at its center. > We Need to Reclaim the Positive Agenda for Public-Centered Innovation, and AI Shouldn’t Be at the Center of It - [Supporting source](https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress) ## Source and contributor context AI Now Institute · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## AI Now Institute AI Now Institute studies the power and institutions shaping AI and advocates for public accountability. - [Explore this context](/entities/ai-now) - [Reference](https://ainowinstitute.org/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: ea0d657d-d7d9-2ecc-50af-e7006ae4e880. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-13T20:28:49.971Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model, second\_opinion\_categorical. Observation: 44fc3b219464f070b958727b733a813dfbb97145df8e6812a5c58ae357761d8a. Source text hash: 95d0af6835d98f1912d78ffedddff0a35c55c0e8ad60bb61ceb558bb139b4ce5. ### uncertain — 2026-11-13T20:28:49.971Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: ea0d657d-d7d9-2ecc-50af-e7006ae4e880 attribution — pass: The reading attributes the arguments to the AI Now Institute, the publisher of this single report chapter. The worker-organizing claim draws on a guest section within the report, and the limitations name its author, Andrea Dehlendorf, Senior Fellow. That is adequate attribution. > (Guest contribution by Andrea Dehlendorf, Senior Fellow) summary — uncertain: The summary calls collective action putting technology in service of the public the report's conclusion. That idea comes from the Path Forward ending of the guest labor section, not the chapter's close. The chapter ends on public AI, where AI Now says rejecting the large-scale AI paradigm is necessary, the quiet part we must say out loud. The reading softens this to public innovation not assuming AI at its center. Smallest repair: attribute the labor conclusion to the guest section, and state the chapter's explicit call to reject the large-scale AI paradigm. The text is otherwise understandable to non-specialists. > Rejecting the current paradigm of large-scale AI is necessary to fight the information and power asymmetries vested in AI. This is the quiet part that we must say out loud. date — pass: June 3, 2025 matches the UTC calendar day of originalPublished (2025-06-03T06:00Z). The reading presents no later events or hindsight framing, and reports the source's proposals as proposals. The page was modified on 2025-10-31, but the reading relies only on core passages of the report. The evidence is a publisher page, so no archive disclosure is required. support — pass: Each claim is source-stated and backed by a matching excerpt. The excerpts cover power not progress, labor's power, speculative data-center benefits, firms not self-evaluating, public AI reinforcing cloud dependency, and AI not at the center. The cited passages are central to the report, not plausible later additions, despite the October 2025 modification. The question follows from the source's critique of NAIRR and its call for conditions on public AI funding. The caveat about effectiveness is a fair gap. > Define concrete conditionalities to attach to public AI funding, ensuring that investment meets communities’ needs rather than corporate interests. media — pass: No media was selected and no verified media candidates were supplied, so there is no media identity or relevance issue. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. - [Kate Brennan, Amba Kak & Sarah Myers West: who can challenge the decision matters](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/ai-now-public-power) — cites the original source; recorded by Escape Meridian; relationship described in that record: supports. - [Kate Brennan, Amba Kak & Sarah Myers West: who can challenge the decision matters](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/ai-now-public-power) — cites the original source; recorded by Escape Meridian. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/d53c3f0b59b3aa44869bee20e35698f417f737e2c613c5e2a6ca11004f148912/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/ai-now-institute-argues-ai-policy-should-focus-on-power-not-d53c3f0b.json)