Leading the Future, a super PAC whose funders include the founders of companies like Palantir and OpenAI, is spending millions of dollars this election cycle, and a considerable amount of that money is going toward attack ads against Alex Bores – even though Bores himself used to work for Palantir.
Bores is a New York state assemblyman who is running for Congress to represent New York’s 12th District. His campaign includes an extensive A.I. policy platform, including demands for A.I. companies to be more transparent about safety, and an idea for an “A.I. dividend” that would redistribute some of the profits of A.I. companies to the public. So his race has turned into a central battleground over the future of the A.I. industry and who has the power to shape it.
In this conversation, we discuss how Bores went from working for Palantir to running a campaign that would regulate the A.I. industry, the major issues he thinks A.I. policy needs to address, and his response to the attacks against him.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/551618/give-people-money-by-annie-lowrey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Give People Money</a> by Annie Lowrey
“<a href="https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores_AI_Framework.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alex Bores’ AI Policy Framework For Congress</a>”
“<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-13/ny-congressional-candidate-faced-palantir-sexual-comments-claim?embedded-checkout=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NY Congressional Candidate Faced Palantir Sexual Comments Claim</a>” by Laura Nahmias
“<a href="https://jasmi.news/p/warning-shots" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AI populism’s warning shots</a>” by Jasmine Sun
Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674000780" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Theory of Justice</a> by John Rawls
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/723091/world-eaters-by-catherine-bracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Eaters</a> by Catherine Bracy
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/97395/bird-by-bird-by-anne-lamott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bird by Bird</a> by Anne Lamott
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</a>.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Lori Segal. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by <a href="mailto:aman.sahota@nytimes.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aman Sahota</a> and Isaac Jones. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Lauren Reddy. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Brianna Johnson.
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