MICHIGAN — Abdul El-Sayed released his "terms of engagement" for AI data centers in Michigan in January. His policy plan addresses issues related to artificial intelligence and data centers, positioning it as a key element of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Michigan Senator.

El-Sayed's proposed plan for data centers includes job guarantees, commitments to prevent utility rate increases, and environmental protections. His broader AI policy plan advocates for public ownership of AI technology, an "AI dividend" distributed to the public, mandatory divestiture of AI developers from major technology companies, and a new tax on AI automation.

El-Sayed described the issue of data centers and AI as frequently discussed during his campaign stops. "There's literally not a conversation that I have, not a stop that I make, where data centers are AI don't come up," El-Sayed said. "It's an issue that I'm hearing about everywhere, and it's one of those issues that, as usual, D.C. has been slower to pay attention to than the rest of the country," he said.

"The idea that we should allow the biggest corporations in the world, billionaires who are unaccountable to any of us, to develop the technology that might foundationally change the nature of human experience without democratic oversight to me is nuts," El-Sayed said. "AI may be new technology, but democracy is old technology. And I trust that old technology to hold that new technology accountable," he said.

Tyler Simko, an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, indicated that the outcome of this primary race could inform perceptions about the viability of progressive arguments concerning data centers and AI. "There are lots of people in lots of places that are going to draw lessons from the outcome of this race," Simko said. "People are going to try to infer the viability of this type of progressive argument on data centers and AI," he said. Michigan currently has 77 operating AI data centers, according to one public database.

El-Sayed is an epidemiologist and former public health official. He is running for the Michigan Senate primary scheduled for August 4. The winner of this primary will advance to face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in the general election. The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter has rated the Michigan Senate race as a "toss up."