Preparing America for the AI Flood
Artificial Intelligence isn’t just coming—it’s already here, fundamentally altering the way we live and interact. While AI offers exciting possibilities for solving global challenges, it also poses significant risks, including the spread of misinformation, increased economic inequality, and environmental damage.
The choice is clear: we can passively accept this reality distortion, allowing AI to exacerbate existing problems, or we can actively harness its power for the public good.
Three Crises: The AI Challenge
AI's rise presents three interconnected crises that demand urgent solutions:
AI-driven disinformation erodes our ability to distinguish fact from fiction, weakening societal trust.
Unchecked Power
A few corporations wield immense control over our digital lives, shaping discourse and behavior with minimal accountability.
AI infrastructure carries hidden economic and environmental burdens, impacting communities and hindering sustainability.
Hidden Economic and Environmental Costs
The Erosion of Shared Truth
"This is a virtuosic piece of writing. DeGraff smartly takes a holistic view of the interlocking challenges society is confronting in the age of AI, and he outlines the steps society should take to avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the opportunities. These are urgent matters. We are lucky he provided us with this timely roadmap."
- Noah Giansiracusa, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bentley University, Visiting Scholar at Harvard, and author of Robin Hood Math.
"A must read for parents, educators, policy-makers, journalists and, well, pretty much anyone who is concerned with the impact and intersection of our rapidly advancing technology on the health of individuals and society.
DeGraff’s accessible, thought-provoking piece adroitly weaves an examination of both the risks and opportunities inherent in artificial intelligence and technology, while arguing to ensure we not lose our humanity in the ever-expanding attention economy.”
- Joseph Valenzano, Dean of the College of Communication, Butler University
Key Insights
Addressing Root Causes for Lasting Change
The framework targets the root causes of our challenges to build long-term resilience—strengthening communities and individuals to withstand future disruptions and thrive in the AI age.
Win-Win Strategies
Many of the paper's solutions align with both the public good and Silicon Valley's self-interest.
Cross-Political Appeal
The framework is designed to bridge political divides by incorporating solutions that appeal to pro-freedom, pro-consumer, pro-creator, and anti-pollution values.
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Kenneth Russell DeGraff
Kenneth DeGraff spent nearly two decades on Capitol Hill, including 12 years as the chief climate, technology and science advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He played a key role in helping Congress design, enact, explain and enforce legislation, including President Biden's "Investing in America" jobs strategy.
His work included contributions to landmark laws like the Inflation Reduction Act ("the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis" according to the UN), the CHIPS & Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Before serving Speaker Pelosi, DeGraff was the Legislative Director and Assistant to Congressman Mike Doyle, a Policy Analyst at Consumer Reports, and a Truman Scholar from Butler University.
He was recently a member of the U.S. Foreign Policy for Clean Energy Taskforce of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He wrote this paper as a Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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