A Different Kind of Issue
Artificial Intelligence is unlike any other issue in this campaign.
Healthcare, Social Security, and tax policy — these are problems that have been building for decades. We know what they look like. We understand their contours. We have a body of research, experience, and policy debate to draw from.
AI is different. It is moving faster than any technology in human history. It is reshaping the economy, the job market, the information landscape, and the basic fabric of daily life — right now, today — and Washington is years behind in understanding it, let alone governing it.
Maria believes that getting AI policy right is one of the most important things Congress needs to address in the immediate future. Not because AI is inherently dangerous — it is also an extraordinary technology with enormous potential to improve lives. But because the decisions made in the next few years will determine whether AI’s benefits are shared broadly across society, or captured exclusively by the corporations and billionaires who build and own it.
We have a narrow window to get this right. Maria intends to use it.
What Is Already Happening
AI is not a future concern. It is a present reality — and its impacts are already being felt by ordinary Americans in ways that are often invisible:
- Jobs are being automated at an accelerating pace, with working and middle-class jobs in manufacturing, customer service, transportation, legal work, accounting, and many other fields at risk of displacement
- Algorithmic decision-making is already determining who gets a loan, who gets a job interview, who gets flagged by law enforcement, and who gets approved for housing — often with no transparency, no accountability, and built-in biases that disadvantage people of color, women, and low-income Americans
- AI-generated misinformation — deepfakes, synthetic media, and automated disinformation — is polluting our information environment and threatening the integrity of our elections and public discourse
- Surveillance technology powered by AI is being deployed by corporations and governments in ways that raise serious civil liberties concerns
- Personal data is being harvested, analyzed, and monetized by AI systems with no meaningful consent or compensation for the people it belongs to
- Healthcare, education, and social services are increasingly being shaped by AI systems whose decisions affect people’s lives in profound ways — with little oversight or recourse
These are not hypothetical scenarios. They are happening now, to real people, with virtually no federal guardrails in place.
Maria’s Approach: Rights, Regulation, and Responsibility
Maria believes AI should serve people — not the other way around.
That means making sure this technology is built and used responsibly, with transparency, accountability, and real protections for everyday Americans — not just for the companies that profit from it.
She’s not against innovation. She’s against a system where innovation moves faster than accountability. And right now, AI is advancing in a space with too few rules and too little oversight.
What Maria Will Fight For
1. A Federal AI Rights Framework
Americans should have clear, enforceable rights when AI is involved in decisions that affect their lives. Maria will push for a federal framework that guarantees basic protections — including knowing when you’re interacting with an AI, having meaningful human review for major decisions, getting an explanation when AI is used to deny you things like credit, employment, or benefits, and protection from biased or discriminatory algorithms.
These aren’t extreme ideas. They’re basic safeguards for a system that’s already shaping people’s lives in very real ways.
2. Protect Workers from AI Displacement
The economic disruption caused by AI automation is real and accelerating. Maria will fight for policies that support workers whose jobs are displaced by AI — including expanded job retraining programs, portable benefits that follow workers between jobs, and requirements that companies investing in AI automation contribute to workforce transition funds. The productivity gains from AI should benefit the workers whose labor made those companies successful — not just their executives and shareholders.
3. Regulate Algorithmic Decision-Making
When an algorithm is making decisions about your life — a mortgage approval, a job application, or even a parole determination — that system needs to be accountable. Maria believes people deserve to know when AI is involved, understand how those decisions are made in broad terms, and have real ways to challenge outcomes that are wrong or discriminatory. If companies are going to use these systems, they should also be responsible for making sure they’re tested, reviewed, and not quietly replicating bias at scale.
4. Combat AI-Generated Misinformation
Deepfakes and AI posts are everywhere now. A lot of people honestly can’t tell what’s real anymore. Maria thinks there should be clear labels so people know when something is synthetic. And platforms can’t just look the other way when false content spreads — especially when it’s driving engagement. We also need better tools to catch it earlier. Not after it’s already everywhere. Now.
5. Protect Privacy and Personal Data
Right now, most people have very little say in how their data gets collected or used. Maria supports a real privacy law — not a symbolic one — that gives people actual control over what gets collected, how it’s used, and who gets it. And when companies ignore those rules, there need to be consequences that matter.
6. Ensure AI Safety and Transparency
Even the people building AI systems will tell you — they don’t fully know how all of it behaves yet. That alone should make us cautious. Maria wants to see basic guardrails: more transparency when AI is used in high-stakes decisions, proper testing before it’s deployed in sensitive settings, and oversight where the risks are serious. Not to slow things down. Just to make sure we’re not flying blind.
7. Keep AI Out of Unaccountable Surveillance
Facial recognition, predictive policing, and AI-powered surveillance tools are being deployed by law enforcement and private corporations in ways that should be raising serious constitutional concerns. Maria wants practical limits on government use of AI-powered law enforcement tools and robust civil liberties protections against AI-enabled mass surveillance.
8. Invest in AI Literacy and Public Research
America’s response to AI cannot be left entirely to the private sector. Maria supports significant public investment in AI research — particularly research focused on safety, fairness, and public benefit — as well as AI literacy programs in schools and communities so that every American has the knowledge to navigate an AI-powered world.
9. Protect Creative Workers
Creative professionals are seeing their work used without consent or compensation. Their highly valuable personal talents are being used to train AI systems that then compete against them in the marketplace. Maria supports robust intellectual property protections for creative workers in the AI era and will push for legislation requiring consent and fair compensation when copyrighted work is used to train commercial AI systems.
What Maria Will Oppose
- Letting AI make high-stakes decisions about people’s lives — jobs, loans, housing, or freedom — without real accountability or transparency
- The use of AI-driven surveillance in ways that undermine basic civil liberties or expand government monitoring without clear limits
- The idea that companies can police themselves when it comes to deploying powerful AI systems that affect the public
- The use of AI-generated deepfakes or synthetic media to mislead voters or interfere in elections
- A transition to AI that leaves workers to absorb the disruption on their own, without support, retraining, or a fair share of the gains
The Bigger Picture
Maria sees AI through the same lens she sees every other issue affecting our district: who does it work for?
Right now, the extraordinary economic value being created by AI is flowing almost entirely to a small number of technology companies and their shareholders. The risks and disruptions — job displacement, algorithmic discrimination, privacy violations, misinformation — are being borne by everyone else.
That is the same story as the tax code. The same story as healthcare. The same story as campaign finance. In every domain, the powerful are capturing the gains and distributing the costs to ordinary people.
Maria believes in a different model — one where transformative technologies are developed responsibly, governed democratically, and made to work for everyone. That will not happen on its own. It will require representatives in Congress who understand the stakes, are not funded by the tech industry, and are willing to act before the window closes.
A Note from Maria
“I’ll be honest — AI worries me. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s moving so fast and we haven’t really figured out the rules yet. We’ve already seen what happens when new technology takes off without guardrails. We don’t need to repeat that mistake. We have a chance to get this right early, and we should take it.”