Today, I’m talking with Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. He’s been in Congress for eight years now, representing California’s 17th District, which is arguably the highest-tech district in the entire country. You’ll hear him say a couple of times that there’s $10 trillion of tech market value in his district, and that’s not an exaggeration: Apple, Intel, and Nvidia are all headquartered in his district, along with important new AI firms like Anthropic and OpenAI.
I wanted to know how Khanna thinks about representing those companies but also the regular people in his district; the last time I spoke to him, in 2018, he reminded me that he’s got plenty of teachers and firefighters to represent as well. But the politics of tech have changed a lot in these past few years — and things are only going to get both more complicated and more tense as Trump and Biden head into what will obviously be a contentious and bitter presidential election.
Links:
Democrats must not repeat the mistakes of globalization
California bill to ban driverless autonomous trucks goes to Newsom's desk
In labor snub, California governor vetoes bill that would have limited self-driving trucks
A lawyer used ChatGPT and now has to answer for its ‘bogus’ citations
Barack Obama on AI, free speech, and the future of the internet
Music streaming platforms must pay artists more, says EU
Sideloading and other changes are coming to iOS in the EU soon
Clock running out on antitrust bill targeting big tech
Silicon Valley’s Rep. Ro Khanna talks Congress’ plans to regulate Big Tech
Trump pushing Microsoft to buy TikTok was ‘strangest thing I’ve ever worked on,’ says Satya Nadella
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23810838
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.
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Rep. Ro Khanna on what it will take for Congress to regulate AI, privacy, and social media | Decoder with Nilay Patel podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
