New Delhi: Former Palantir engineer, a Democrat and current New York Assembly member Alex Bores, is at the centre of the Artificial Intelligence storm gripping American politics. In his X bio, he has mentioned, “Feared by the powerful, fighting for NY.” He is not exaggerating; the big tech-backed political action committee is actually spending millions of dollars to stop him from winning in New York’s 12th Congressional District election scheduled for November this year.
“The AI lobby is intentionally saying that they are going to make an example out of me,” he told CNN in a recent interview. What makes Bores a target of the Silicon Valley giants is the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act he helped pass in New York in 2025. It is one of the most important pieces of legislation that aims to regulate AI models and forces AI creators to ensure user safety and maintain transparency.
The campaign against Bores extends beyond negative commentary circulating on social media. The OpenAI- and Palantir-backed PAC, Leading the Future, has also funded ads targeting him. The ads attack his career in tech and criticise his association with Palantir over the defence-tech firm’s work with ICE—even though the campaign itself is backed by people linked to Palantir. The ad pulls up his LinkedIn profile and highlights his experience at Palantir. The ad hits out: “Bores helped power ICE and Homeland Security. ICE is being powered by Bores’ tech.”
Bores does not hide his Palantir history; he has been quoted saying that because he saw the dangers of the firm’s use by organisations such as ICE and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, he quit. Bores said he left all the money behind to work for the people.
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Battle of AI firms
As per reports, the upcoming election in New York has become a war over AI. As per a recent Quinnipiac poll, 80 per cent of Americans are “either very concerned or somewhat concerned about AI”. This sentiment has now started to show in political races. According to Bores, he has become a target because of his knowledge of the AI models and the actions he has already taken in regulating it.
The lawmaker is himself not anti-AI. According to CNN, he uses it to prepare for political debates and was able to employ such models to clean up statutes on the books in New York to identify things that might be outdated or dangerous. Bores, speaking to CNN, said that those like him who care about AI safety are also the people who see the power of it. “That’s why we should be shaping it and not leave the decisions to five billionaires,” he said.
In fact, the other side of the battle is fought in favour of Bores by another AI company, Anthropic. A Super PAC, Public First, linked to the firm has reportedly spent $ 2 million on ads supporting Bores, according to CNN. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that a group tied to Leading the Future has “spent $4 million against him, and one tied to Public First has spent $3.7 million for him.”
“The nastiest relationship in big-money politics is between two super PACs with the same goal: promoting artificial intelligence,” wrote Theodore Schleifer for The New York Times.