Caleb Watney(@calebwatney):One underrated dynamic in the politics of AI -- expectations of future political salience can affect political positioning today. E.g., Gov. Newsom seems to be running far and fast away from his previous veto of SB1047, in part because he expects AI to be a top-3 political issue when he's campaigning in 2027/28. Even though AI is not a top-10 issue today, I'd expect other politicians to start "updating all the way" on political salience post-midterms and realize that positions they take on AI over the next 6-12 months will be the basis of political judgment in 2028.

2026.10.29 15:52

One underrated dynamic in the politics of AI -- expectations of future political salience can affect political positioning today. E.g., Gov. Newsom seems to be running far and fast away from his previous veto of SB1047, in part because he expects AI to be a top-3 political issue when he's campaigning in 2027/28. Even though AI is not a top-10 issue today, I'd expect other politicians to start "updating all the way" on political salience post-midterms and realize that positions they take on AI over the next 6-12 months will be the basis of political judgment in 2028.