The Ezra Klein Show: "Why Are Palantir and OpenAI Scared of Alex Bores?"

Airdate: April 21, 2026
Host: Ezra Klein
Guest: Alex Bores (New York State Assemblymember, Congressional candidate, former Palantir employee, AI regulation advocate)

Episode Overview

This episode explores the rise of Alex Bores as a political lightning rod for the tech industry's anxieties over AI regulation. As a young, effective legislator who authored the widely discussed RAISE Act—one of the first major state laws to attempt AI regulation—Bores faces fierce, often contradictory political attacks funded by titans like OpenAI and Palantir. Ezra Klein dives into Bores’ background in labor activism and tech, his contentious history at Palantir, the details and philosophy of AI regulation, and the broader questions about technology, jobs, political power, and the future fabric of American democracy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Political Attacks, Super PACs, and Tech Industry Power

• Super PAC Attacks: Bores is targeted by an ad campaign that highlights his Palantir past while being bankrolled by Palantir and OpenAI co-founders—an irony Ezra emphasizes early.
• Motivation: The super PAC "Leading the Future" aims to "destroy anyone who might regulate the tech industry in general or AI specifically," using Bores as an example to discourage future regulators.

  “They have said publicly they want to make an example out of Alex Bores... not that ‘oh, we have a different view,’ but ‘we want to make an example out of Alex Bores.’” — Alex Bores (88:37)

2. Alex Bores' Early Political Formation and Labor Activism

• Union Fight Roots: Bores’ childhood involvement in a Disney workers’ strike—his father’s union was locked out during a contract dispute—informs his collectivist, pragmatic focus.

  "If you’re one worker, you’re one person, it’s easy to get crushed. But if you have a union, an organization, a campaign, a movement, you stand a chance." — Alex Bores (05:44)

• Labor & Tech Education: Studied industrial/labor relations at Cornell, learned economic theory and union organizing before pursuing computer science, tying both worlds together in his career.

3. The Palantir Years: Ideals vs. Reality

• Initial Optimism: Joined Palantir in 2014, when Silicon Valley believed in using technology to empower government for the public good, emphasizing privacy and civil liberties.

  “The pitch... was we were there in many ways to stop fascism.” — Alex Bores (13:24)

• Change Under Trump: Saw a shift in priorities (e.g., DOJ focus on opioid epidemic, violent crime, but pushed back against civil immigration use).
• ICE Controversy: Bores explains he left Palantir after the firm refused to prohibit use of its platform for deportations, rejecting attacks about his “real” reasons for leaving.

  "They were going to renew the contract without putting in those guardrails... so I made plans to quit." — Alex Bores (18:27)

4. The RAISE Act and Philosophy of AI Regulation

• Origins: Enacted in New York in 2025, co-authored by Bores. Designed amid industry pleas for some safety standards and government inaction.
• Core Provisions:
  • Mandatory public safety plans for AI deployments
  • Reporting "critical safety incidents" to government
  • (Cut from final version): Prohibiting launches that failed their own safety tests, third-party audits

  “If you knew your model was risky you have to take action... like tobacco or fossil fuel companies denied harm.” — Alex Bores (25:08)

• Speed vs. Capacity: AI progresses rapidly, while government is slow and under-resourced—a widening gap that troubles Bores.

5. Public & Political Backlash to AI

• Rising Fears: Polls show majority worries about AI outpacing its promised benefits; frustrations center around lack of public say, regulatory inertia, and potential for social harm.
• Populist Sentiment: Many see AI as an “elite political project” being forced on society for investor benefit, not because people want it.

  “What I hear from my neighbors is very much the feeling that this is moving so quickly, that we don’t have control and the American people so far have not had a say in it.” — Alex Bores (32:57)

• Violence Against AI Leaders: Cites attacks on Sam Altman as evidence of rising public anger (29:46).

6. Data Centers, Moratoriums, and Infrastructure

• Debate over Data Centers: Bores sees them as both a risk and an opportunity—if regulated properly, they could help fund badly needed grid upgrades and further renewable energy.
• Sanders/AOC Data Center Moratorium: Bores sympathizes but prefers direct regulation over outright moratoriums; sees moratorium primarily as a negotiating demand.

  “If I could wave a magic wand and pass any bill I’d want, it wouldn’t be a moratorium. It would be the regulations that the moratorium is calling for.” — Alex Bores (36:50)

7. AI’s Economic Impact: Dividends, UBI, and Jobs

• AI Dividend: Bores proposes using taxes/warrants on AI profits and usage to fund a universal basic income (UBI) or broader safety net in case of major job displacement.
• Limits of UBI: Acknowledges UBI alone is insufficient due to the dignity and transitional dilemmas for displaced workers; supports job retraining, changing tax incentives, and licensing policies to smooth the transition.

  “Universal basic income by itself is insufficient.” — Alex Bores (48:33)

8. Practical Challenges: Autonomous Vehicles & Labor

• Waymo in NYC: Bores wants a careful, staged approach to driverless cars, emphasizing the need to protect workers and ensure actual gains—“it’s a question of speed, not yes or no” (55:57).
• Human Dignity: Worries about loss of purpose and meaning if jobs vanish too quickly, skeptical of the “post-work” utopia painted by AI optimists.

9. Policy for Children and AI

• Protecting Kids: Advocates for age verification, oversight of kids’ interactions with AI, strong data privacy protections, and updated educational practices as AI enters classrooms (60:37, 61:45).

10. Building Governmental AI Capacity

• Talent Gaps: Argues for investing in public sector AI talent, updating government tech (from mainframes to cloud and AI), and giving public servants tools to regulate and harness AI meaningfully (65:27).

  “We need to be hiring the expertise within government if we are going to help to govern and lead to good outcomes here.” — Alex Bores (66:21)

11. Superintelligence, Governance, and International Coordination

• Full Automation & AGI: Bores sees superintelligence and full automation as likely paths, insists we need international diplomacy and robust verification to slow arms race dynamics and improve alignment before it’s too late (70:49).

12. Realizing AI’s Positive Potential

• Public Investment: Enthusiastic about Empire AI (public AI research cluster in NY), wants more federal support for socially beneficial AI applications (e.g., drug discovery, government service delivery, IRS automation) but notes technical solutions can’t overcome political inertia or regulatory “cruft” alone (74:14, 77:41).
• Structural Reforms: Cites the need to cut “policy cruft” and reform outdated government IT and processes to unlock real benefit from AI advances.

13. Political Economy: Regulation vs. Tech Industry Power

• Money in Politics: Fears that the tech industry will use its vast resources to cow legislators and block meaningful regulation—a test case playing out in his race.
• Lesson for Congress: If moneyed interests succeed in taking down proponents like Bores, future AI regulation will be politically toxic and off-limits (90:29).

  “We already have elected officials who are terrified to take up this cause, despite how popular it is, because they see all the money on the other side and they’re risk averse... The lesson that will be learned... is don’t actually touch this. Maybe you can say a speech... but don’t try to pass the bill because they will end your career." — Alex Bores (91:40)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On labor solidarity:

  “It’s a lot harder to walk past an eight year old with a sign that says Disney is mean to my dad.” — Alex Bores (05:44)

• On AI regulation's importance:

  “The way we win is working together... If the democratic process is going to mean something here, ideas are going to have to speak louder than this kind of money.” — Ezra Klein (03:42)

• On tech’s broken utopia:

  “There was this period when there is a lot of optimism that technology is going to solve some very fundamental problems of democracy... And I think there’s also an underlying view that the answers to our problems are out there somewhere in these masses of data. And if you can just make the whole thing legible, you could get the answers and something poisons pretty quickly.” — Ezra Klein (11:35)

• On being targeted:

  “They are very afraid of me in office. And beyond that, they’ve said publicly that they are trying to make an example out of me.” — Alex Bores (23:05)

• On AI as elite imposition:

  “AI is viewed not only as a normal technology, but as an elite political project to be resisted.” — Summarizing Jasmine Sun, as read by Ezra Klein (31:48)

• On the government’s tech backwardness:

  “One of my first bills in the state legislature was to help the state get on cloud computing because it mostly uses mainframes... The speaker of the assembly codes in FORTRAN.” — Alex Bores (84:07)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:01 — Opening context on attacks against Bores, Super PAC funding, and AI regulation
• 04:43-10:03 — Bores' labor history, college activism, worldview on labor vs. capital
• 10:03-18:27 — Palantir years: optimism, ethical conflicts, departure over ICE contracts
• 20:11-23:38 — Addressing Palantir’s attacks, HR controversy, Super PAC motivations
• 23:38-28:54 — New York Assembly, the RAISE Act, philosophy behind AI regulation
• 28:54-36:47 — Public backlash to AI, rising pessimism, utility comparisons
• 36:47-41:56 — Data center moratorium debate, grid upgrades, and renewables
• 43:04-50:03 — AI dividend, UBI, transition policies, displacement dilemmas
• 50:07-56:23 — Autonomous vehicles, Waymo in NYC, balancing gains and displacement
• 56:23-62:19 — Job dignity, UBI limitations, challenges of post-work society
• 60:37-62:55 — Policy on kids and AI, privacy, pedagogy, education system
• 65:16-67:10 — Building public AI expertise, government hiring constraints
• 70:08-72:07 — Ultimate AI risks, superintelligence, international cooperation
• 74:14-78:51 — Positive public vision for AI, drug discovery, fixing regulatory cruft
• 83:30-84:33 — Practical problems modernizing government, public sector IT
• 84:33-91:40 — Money in politics, test case in Bores campaign, AI regulation’s political future

Book Recommendations from Alex Bores (91:45)

1. A Theory of Justice by John Rawls – Foundational text in political philosophy, balancing human rights and inequalities.
2. World Eaters by Kathryn Bracey – Critique of venture capital as an engine for growth at all costs, with real-world implications for tech and society.
3. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – On writing, procrastination, and the importance of developing the craft, especially relevant as AI alters communication skills.

Episode Tone and Takeaways

This conversation balances deep policy wonkery with urgent political drama. Ezra Klein’s probing but sympathetic tone nudges Bores to articulate not only legislative specifics but also the deeper values and fears animating the AI debate. Bores comes across as pragmatic, process-oriented, and alarmed—especially about money’s corrosive effect on democracy and the risks of AI outstripping our collective capacity to direct it for social good.

Central theme:
If the US is to benefit from AI, it must find a way to reconcile economic dynamism with political democracy, protect the vulnerable in times of fast change, and forcibly inject public purpose into the technology’s future before private power makes that impossible.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

This summary provides a comprehensive map of the episode’s major insights, the context behind the controversy, Bores’ personal and political journey, the multifaceted nature of the AI debate, and the pressing questions facing both politicians and the public as generative AI reshapes society and power.