Congressional Democrats launched a new panel on artificial intelligence this week after House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to reconvene a bipartisan task force formed last year, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced its members on Tuesday.

That announcement has already garnered backlash from critics over some of those representatives’ closeness to the tech world, nonprofit progressive news site Common Dreams reported Wednesday.

Poll after poll this year has shown broad, bipartisan concerns over the power of Big Tech companies and the potentially disastrous influence these companies’ ambitions for AI could have on the economy and society as a whole. Trump has disregarded those concerns — even when voiced by staunch allies within the MAGA movement — by giving Big Tech executives much of what they’ve asked for, including massive government contracts and a push to ban states from regulating the technology. 

This would, in theory, create a lane for Democrats to advocate on behalf of the majority of the American public and press for AI regulations with some teeth — an elusive goal some activists in the tech world have sought for years now. That is perhaps still in the cards. But doubts are swirling.

Among the appointments to the panel who have raised particular flags for their financial ties to Big Tech or for their history of supporting deregulation of AI are Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who is serving as ex-officio co-chair.

Sludge, a platform that tracks money in politics, notes that Gottheimer is a former Microsoft executive who has collected thousands of dollars in donations from the company’s PAC and employees, who owns stock in the company valued at millions of dollars and who has backed AI deregulation efforts. From Sludge’s report:

For example, in July, Gottheimer helped to introduce the Unleashing AI Innovation in Financial Services Act (H.R. 4801) alongside Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) that would require financial regulators to create ‘AI Innovation Labs’ where firms could experiment with AI-driven financial products under looser regulations and without the normal threats of enforcement actions. 

Gottheimer told Sludge in March that an independent investment manager controls his portfolio. Microsoft has backed Trump’s widely unpopular idea for a moratorium on state-level AI laws, and Gottheimer told CNBC on Wednesday that he’d support such a moratorium if it included a carveout for states to regulate things such as AI’s potential harms to children. 

The outlet also noted that Lofgren, whose district includes much of Silicon Valley, previously worked with Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., on a bill to create a federal organization to work with tech companies on “voluntary best practices and technical standards for evaluating the reliability, robustness, resilience, security, and safety of artificial intelligence systems.” Some critics of Big Tech have voiced concerns that voluntary guidelines are insufficient to rein in powerful tech companies.

Sludge also flagged that Lofgren is “the second-largest recipient of money from the Internet industry all-time among current House Democrats,” and that she has received thousands of dollars over the years from companies such as Alphabet, Apple and Meta. 

The representative has previously refuted allegations about her approach to Big Tech. Back in 2023, Lofgren denied claims reported in the Washington Post that she had a hand in striking details about Big Tech’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection from the House January 6 Select Committee’s final report. 

Lofgren’s and Gottheimer’s offices did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment.

To be clear, that a lawmaker has received donations from Big Tech or represents a district where many Big Tech companies do business doesn’t necessarily preclude them from earnestly regulating AI. But progressive critics have raised legitimate concerns about the biases in the group Jeffries has assembled to drive the party’s policy approach to these powerful companies and the wealthy elites who lead them.

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