The Bernie Sanders Proposal Not Extreme Enough For Abdul El-Sayed

Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed wants to take leftist Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) scheme to take “public ownership” of artificial intelligence companies one “step further.”

El-Sayed, the Democrats’ nominee in Michigan to replace Senator Gary Peters, said during a recent podcast appearance that he wants an expansive “system of public control” when it comes to AI companies. His comments come as he makes the debate over data centers a large focus of his campaign. 

“I want to actually take it a step further,” El-Sayed said on June 12 when asked on the Head in the Office podcast if he agreed with Sanders’ proposal for public ownership in AI companies. “I agree that we need public ownership, but I also agree that we need some system of public control. Like, what is the point of democracy if it’s not to protect us from existential risk?”

The data center debate has dominated national headlines, dividing communities about whether the entities drive up utility prices or benefit local economies. El-Sayed’s solution to the debate is for the federal government to step in and issue sweeping zoning regulations. 

Sanders proposed in June to “give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest AI companies” by passing a 50% tax on the corporations’ stock. Money from that tax would be put into a sovereign wealth fund, a state owned investment pool. 

On his campaign website, El-Sayed describes himself as “the only candidate in the Michigan Senate race to support public ownership of AI, and one of the only U.S. Senate candidates to do so nationwide” and touted his advocacy for “public control” of AI companies.

El-Sayed said that the government should be able to “shut down” AI companies if they don’t follow specific guidelines like using union labor and having a community benefits agreement. 

During the same podcast, El-Sayed suggested that taxpayer dollars should pay for transgender procedures for kids. 

“Health care should be a choice made by a patient and their doctor,” he said. “If that patient is under the age of 18, their parents as well, right? And I believe that Medicare for all should cover all health care which is defined by what a patient needs in accordance with their doctor. So that includes reproductive rights, right? 
That includes gender-affirming care.”

While openly campaigning on a leftist platform including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), El-Sayed has scrubbed some of his previous views from the public record. He deleted numerous posts advocating for defund the police policies and hid videos showing him ranting about the dangers of fireworks and suggesting the Second Amendment should be taken away. 

Republicans have focused much of their attention on El-Sayed’s radical rhetoric. 

“Hide your kids, hide your paycheck, and hide your private insurance. Abdul El-Sayed is an insult to all doctors for wanting to chop up children’s body parts,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Chloe Crawford told The Daily Wire. “He will stop at nothing — even hurting little kids — in his crusade to turn America into communist China.”