{"text":[[{"start":12.2,"text":"A Big Tech critic targeted by Silicon Valley billionaires has narrowly lost a congressional Democratic Party primary in Manhattan, a victory for the powerful pro-AI lobby that will reverberate across US politics."}],[{"start":25.2,"text":"Alex Bores, a 35-year-old New York state lawmaker who helped pass one of America’s first AI safety bills, had been targeted with an $8mn campaign from Leading the Future, a Super Pac backed by wealthy Trump donors, in a contest that became a proxy war over AI regulation. "}],[{"start":43.849999999999994,"text":"Bores also received roughly $18mn in support from groups supportive of stricter AI guardrails, in the most expensive race the solidly blue district has ever seen. He was beaten by Micah Lasher, who was supported by more than $10mn from former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. "}],[{"start":63.199999999999996,"text":"Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of the late president John F Kennedy who has become an Instagram star, finished a distant third."}],[{"start":71.85,"text":"Elsewhere in New York, Tuesday’s primary results underlined the political clout of the city’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, whose three preferred leftwing candidates triumphed in their respective races. "}],[{"start":83.6,"text":"In New York’s 10th district, progressive Mamdani ally Brad Lander decisively beat incumbent Dan Goldman in a race dominated by debates over support for Israel. Both candidates, who are Jewish, are critical of Israel’s leadership. Goldman declined to call the war in Gaza a genocide and was endorsed by the US’s main pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC."}],[{"start":106.5,"text":"But it is Bores’s defeat in one of Manhattan’s prized congressional seats that is likely to send shockwaves through Washington and energise the tech industry’s growing network of deep-pocketed political donors ahead of November’s midterm elections."}],[{"start":122,"text":"More than $26mn was spent on the race in New York’s 12th district by groups partly funded by people close to OpenAI or its rival Anthropic."}],[{"start":132.95,"text":"The Leading the Future campaign group that targeted Bores claims to have more than $140mn in backing from Trump donors including the billionaire co-founders of Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. "}],[{"start":150,"text":"It had hoped to use this race as a “cautionary tale,” said Katie Harbath, a former Facebook director who now heads technology consulting firm Anchor Change. “They want to send a message to other candidates that if you try to go against us, we will destroy you,” she said."}],[{"start":165.95,"text":"Bores’s defeat came as the rollout of AI has increasingly become a concern for Republican and Democrat voters worried about the tech’s impact on employment and the demands on electricity or water supply from data centres, as well as issues such as child safety."}],[{"start":181.35,"text":"Facing a growing grassroots backlash, OpenAI recently came out in support of some AI legislation and sought to distance itself from Leading the Future, claiming Brockman’s donations did not reflect the company’s priorities."}],[{"start":194.35,"text":"In Manhattan, Bores used anxiety over AI to call for tougher regulation. The closing ad of his campaign featured the parents of Adam Raine, who claim a chatbot helped their teenage son kill himself in 2025. In the video, Raine’s mother says tech companies are “spending millions of dollars to try to stop [Bores]”, before appealing: “Don’t let them.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":215.25,"text":"His stance turned him from an obscure legislator into a national figurehead for tougher rules on AI and won him financial support."}],[{"start":222.65,"text":"In May, crypto investor Chris Larsen launched an organisation called You Can Push Back that has spent more than $3.3mn supporting Bores, while a new progressive Pac, Guardrails Alliance — which claims to have backing from tech workers — entered the fray just last week, spending $285,000."}],[{"start":241.70000000000002,"text":"Following Bores’s defeat, Leading the Future co-founder Josh Vlasto said the pro-AI group was “building a broad coalition at the federal and state levels, and will continue to support policymakers who will work together to pass a national regulatory framework with strong and smart guardrails.”"}],[{"start":259.85,"text":"Another candidate backed by Leading the Future, Democrat Ben McAdams, won his primary race in Utah on Tuesday."}],[{"start":266.90000000000003,"text":"Speaking to the FT in February, Bores warned that if he lost his race it would empower the enemies of regulation."}],[{"start":274.90000000000003,"text":"“They are going to go to every member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, and say, don’t actually try to regulate AI, don’t actually put guardrails around it, or we will spend $10mn against you.”"}],[{"start":295.70000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782271288_2311.mp3"}