Sharon Block is professor of practice and executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. Chrissy Lynch is president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
In 2022, few people had ever heard of ChatGPT or knew what “artificial intelligence” was. But in just a few years, AI has begun to reshape how we do everyday tasks — gather information, do homework, buy things, and, most importantly, work. Imagine how lives might be changed 10 years from now by the evolution of AI.
That future could move in two different directions. It could be a future in which Americans harness the power of AI to make work easier, safer, and more productive. Or it could be a future in which millions of workers in the United States are subjected to brutal production quotas set by algorithms and have their every move surveilled by digital overlords. Guess which future Republicans in Congress want for you? They’ve decided to give the choice of which future awaits Americans to billionaire Silicon Valley tech executives.
How did they give away the future of American workers to tech executives? Buried in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, among the hundreds of pages of tax breaks for the wealthy and Medicaid cuts for hardworking people, is a ban on any regulation of artificial intelligence by states or local governments for 10 years: “[N]o State or political subdivision thereof may enforce … any law or regulation … limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems.” That means for 10 years, as tech companies make AI more and more powerful, congressional Republicans want to leave workers powerless to react to how AI affects their lives and livelihoods.
Iin Massachusetts, the Republicans’ ban would block the State House from considering legislation that would safeguard our fundamental rights. Labor unions, led by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and community members have come together to urge the Legislature to pass an act fostering artificial intelligence responsibility, known as the FAIR Act.
The bill would establish needed guardrails around the use of AI and similar technologies by employers and in the workplace. It would restrict the use of AI-driven worker surveillance tools, many of which are already being used, and prevent employers from relying solely on automatic decision-making systems in hiring, firing, or promotion. With workers increasingly being asked to incorporate AI into their everyday work, this legislation would also establish strong anti-retaliation protections and worker autonomy provisions.
If AI tools are to be used for good, we need meaningful human oversight and worker input at every step of their implementation. Preventing states like Massachusetts from considering policy like the FAIR Act would halt community-based momentum and leave workers and their families exposed to the unchecked harms of AI.
This kind of giveaway for tech billionaires is the exact opposite of what Americans want from Congress. Polls consistently show that people want more oversight and accountability for technology. In April 2025, a Pew Research poll showed that about 6 out of 10 people are wary of how US companies develop and use AI. But congressional Republicans are not listening to workers. Instead, they follow Elon Musk and the other Big Tech executives who want to make Washington, D.C. the next Silicon Valley and hope you won’t notice the single section in Trump’s bill that lines their pockets and strips you of democracy until 2035.
Trump urged House Republicans to pass the bill with the AI ban in it. But there is one more hurdle to the president’s agenda ahead — the Senate. Senators must now decide whether they will stand with the interests of workers and everyday people or the interests of Big Tech billionaires.
The line between tech innovation and tech domination will be drawn not in Washington, but in the workplaces, schools, and sectors where AI transforms our lives, for good and bad. It is the job of state and local representatives to adapt to these changes and pass regulations that make sense for their communities — if only Republicans don’t stifle democracy first.