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Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said he wanted to “take it a step further” when asked whether he supported Bernie Sanders’ public ownership model for major artificial intelligence companies.
El-Sayed argued for “some system of public control,” days after a top House Democrat rejected suggestions that young socialists are talking about “seizing the means of production.”
Asked during a June 12 appearance on the left-wing “Head in the Office” podcast whether he supported public ownership models for major artificial intelligence companies like one proposed by Sanders, El-Sayed said he wanted to “actually take it a step further.”
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He added that while he agreed “we need public ownership,” he also believed “we need some system of public control.”
El-Sayed did not explicitly call for the government to seize or take ownership of private AI companies, instead describing possible forms of “public control” that included public representation on corporate boards or an oversight body.
“I want to actually take it a step further. I agree that we need public ownership, but I also agree that we need some system of public control. What is the point of democracy if it’s not to protect us from existential risk? And, right now, there is no regulation,” El-Sayed said when asked about public ownership and public control of major AI companies, with the podcast host citing proposals from Sanders.
“I just think it’s really important for us to be thinking what is democratic control over this industry? What does it look like?”
El-Sayed later offered examples of what “public control” could look like, including public representation on corporate boards or a public oversight body over companies, arguing that AI poses potentially “existential” risks requiring greater public oversight.
“Democracy is supposed to fix these problems, and, right now, they’re trying to slip democracy, and we cannot allow that,” El-Sayed continued about the political power tech companies wield in Washington. “And, so, we need leaders who both understand the technological risk and are not bought off by the AI industry itself. It is mission critical right now for our future.”
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El-Sayed’s call to “take it a step further” on public ownership comes as senior Democrats have sought to push back on the idea that the party’s rising socialist wing is seeking government control of the means of production.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., recently argued that young Americans who identify as socialists are not embracing socialism in its traditional Marxist sense, asking whether they mean, “I want to socialize the means of production,” before answering, “I don’t think so.”
Raskin has similarly argued that young self-described socialists are primarily seeking “greater equality and opportunity,” rather than embracing concepts such as “dialectical materialism” or the “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
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But some of the movement’s most prominent figures have used more explicit language. Mamdani said during a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference that one of the movement’s firmly held beliefs was the “end goal of seizing the means of production,” while acknowledging it did not then enjoy the same level of public support as other progressive causes.
The June podcast comments are drawing fresh attention as El-Sayed, a progressive who has embraced comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, seeks to carry that brand of politics into a marquee statewide Senate race.
The resurfaced exchange also comes amid a broader debate over the Democratic Party’s embrace of democratic socialists and how far the movement’s economic agenda extends beyond policies such as universal healthcare and a higher minimum wage.
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