Is Washington Up to the Challenge of A.I.?

The Washington Roundtable discusses the growing political backlash to artificial intelligence, especially among young Americans, and asks whether Washington, D.C., is capable of regulating A.I. companies. They’re joined by Nate Soares, the executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of the book “ If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies .” The group explores what was behind the White House’s sudden reversal on an A.I.-safety executive order this week, the outsized influence of venture capitalists in the A.I. industry, and how A.I. may turbocharge the next populist movement in American politics. “My impression is that a lot of the people protesting data centers can sort of tell that this A.I. stuff is taking the world somewhere they don’t want,” Soares says. “They can tell that there’s this big corporate race that will either kill them or make them a permanent underclass.” See the Washington Roundtable live at 92NY on June 4th. This week’s reading: “ Can Hakeem Jeffries Lead a Democratic Takeover of the House? ,” by Jason Zengerle “ Sam Altman Won in Court Against Elon Musk. But, Really, We All Lost ,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “ Can the Democrats Take Back the Senate? ,” by Amy Davdison Sorkin “ What Thomas Massie’s Race Says About Trump’s Influence ,” by Jon Allsop “ Clarence Thomas Against Progressivism—and Progressives ,” by Ruth Marcus “ A Republican Bloodbath in the Texas Senate Primary Is Giving Democrats Hope ,” by Rachel Monroe The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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Is Washington Up to the Challenge of A.I.? is an episode from The Political Scene | The New Yorker by The New Yorker.

This episode is 46:21 long.

This episode was published on May 22, 2026.

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