{"id":"ai-now-public-power","title":"Who can challenge the decision matters","topicIds":["institutions-and-trust","power-and-infrastructure"],"domain":"governance","speaker":{"name":"Kate Brennan, Amba Kak & Sarah Myers West","roleAtSource":"Authors of AI Now’s 2025 Landscape Report","expertise":"Policy researchers examining AI industry structure and public accountability.","claimBoundary":"This is a policy agenda and analysis, not a neutral experiment or a technical impossibility proof.","bioSources":[{"title":"Report authorship","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/ai-now-2025-landscape-report"},{"title":"Institute research and funding","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/about"}],"declaredInterests":[{"text":"AI Now advocates public accountability and states that it does not accept corporate funding.","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/about"}]},"source":{"title":"A Roadmap for Action: Make AI a Fight About Power, Not Progress","publisher":"AI Now Institute","format":"Authored report chapter","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress","publishedAt":"2025-06-03","dateBasis":"Publication date displayed on the chapter and parent report.","anchor":{"label":"Opening argument and strategic recommendations","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress"},"accessNote":"Original publisher text read on 2026-09-22; a short editorial paraphrase is stored, not the underlying work."},"argument":"The authors argue that AI’s direction is a political choice. They call for worker organizing, enforceable limits and public accountability, so affected people can contest how institutions use AI rather than accept its expansion as inevitable.","claimType":"normative proposal","evidence":[{"text":"The chapter proposes worker organizing and scrutiny across the AI supply chain, including model developers, rather than relying only on downstream users.","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress","kind":"normative","relationship":"supports"}],"assumptions":["Editorial reconstruction: collective organizing and enforceable rules can change institutional incentives.","Editorial reconstruction: affected people should have practical power over deployment decisions."],"whatWouldChangeView":{"attribution":"Editorial test, not a stated concession","text":"Compare interventions by whether affected people gain usable remedies and influence. Formal procedures that leave decisions untouched would challenge the proposed strategy."},"limits":"Its recommendations express political values. The chapter’s cited cases require their own source checks before being reused as factual allegations.","discussionQuestion":"What practical power should people have over an AI decision that affects them?","relatedSignalIds":["ai-act-entry-into-force","kenyan-data-worker-accounts"],"editorialComparisons":[{"positionId":"lecun-open-model-pluralism","relationship":"Editorial comparison; no direct exchange established","question":"Is the ability to adapt a model enough, or does meaningful choice also require institutional power?"},{"positionId":"wissner-gross-human-options","relationship":"Editorial comparison; no direct exchange established","question":"How could a broad promise of human freedom become enforceable decision-making power?"}],"sourceMedia":{"status":"found","sourceUrl":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress","checkedAt":"2026-10-15T20:07:33.560800Z","items":[{"type":"image","url":"https://ainowinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/20250529-Ch4-web.png","sourceUrl":"https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/4-a-roadmap-for-action-make-ai-a-fight-about-power-not-progress","attribution":"AI Now Institute","basis":"publisher-metadata","availability":"verified","verifiedAt":"2026-10-15T20:07:33.560800Z","label":"Article illustration"}]},"canonicalUrl":"https://escapemeridian.com/readings/ai-now-public-power","formats":{"html":"/readings/ai-now-public-power","markdown":"/readings/ai-now-public-power.md","json":"/readings/ai-now-public-power.json"},"attribution":"Headline and sourced paraphrase by Escape Meridian. Inclusion is not endorsement.","readerContext":{"version":"reader-context-v1","attribution":"Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.","terms":[],"entities":[{"id":"kate-brennan","name":"Kate Brennan","kind":"person","context":"Kate Brennan is an AI Now Institute researcher and coauthor of its 2025 report on power and policy in AI.","referenceUrls":["https://ainowinstitute.org/about","https://ainowinstitute.org/","https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/ai-now-2025-landscape-report"],"path":"/entities/kate-brennan","json":"/entities/kate-brennan.json","markdown":"/entities/kate-brennan.md"},{"id":"amba-kak","name":"Amba Kak","kind":"person","context":"Amba Kak is a policy researcher at AI Now Institute working on public accountability and the power behind AI systems.","referenceUrls":["https://ainowinstitute.org/about","https://ainowinstitute.org/","https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/ai-now-2025-landscape-report"],"path":"/entities/amba-kak","json":"/entities/amba-kak.json","markdown":"/entities/amba-kak.md"},{"id":"sarah-myers-west","name":"Sarah Myers West","kind":"person","context":"Sarah Myers West is an AI Now Institute researcher examining technology, corporate power and public policy.","referenceUrls":["https://ainowinstitute.org/contributor/sarah-myers-west","https://ainowinstitute.org/","https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/research/ai-now-2025-landscape-report"],"path":"/entities/sarah-myers-west","json":"/entities/sarah-myers-west.json","markdown":"/entities/sarah-myers-west.md"},{"id":"ai-now","name":"AI Now Institute","kind":"organization","context":"AI Now Institute studies the power and institutions shaping AI and advocates for public accountability.","referenceUrls":["https://ainowinstitute.org/"],"path":"/entities/ai-now","json":"/entities/ai-now.json","markdown":"/entities/ai-now.md"}]},"withdrawn":false,"revisions":[],"audits":[],"correctionUrl":"https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/"}