(iPoster) Big Tech and AI Governance

• In Event: Poster Session: Public Opinion 2

Abstract

This project examines the tensions embedded in the United States’ approach to artificial intelligence governance, arising from its simultaneous commitments to democratic values, technological leadership, and deep reliance on private-sector actors. Situated in a comparative perspective in which the European Union emphasizes rights-based regulation and China prioritizes rapid development for economic and political ends, the U.S. model is distinguished by the close proximity of Big Tech to the regulatory process. I argue that this entanglement poses unique challenges for public opinion between accountability, transparency, and rights protection on the one hand, and innovation-driven economic and geopolitical competition on the other. The study investigates how corporate influence shapes AI lawmaking through agenda-setting and policy design, potentially privileging market interests over public welfare. Empirically, the project analyzes U.S. public opinion to assess whether support for Big Tech’s involvement in government mediates attitudes towards AI regulation, particularly across partisan lines. Despite conventional expectations of ideological polarization, AI governance appears to elicit bipartisan concern about corporate overreach. By examining how trust in Big Tech interacts with the AI race, this research contributes to an understanding of AI governance, public opinion, and the evolving relationship between state power and corporate authority in the digital age.

I argue that the U.S.’s unique position as a leader in the AI development race, a democratic country, and host of intersecting private and public powers implicates important contradictions in its strategic model. These tensions manifest in the regulation lawmaking process through critical challenges to democratic values via its close proximity to Big Tech. This relationship facilitates the co-option of regulatory goals, systematically prioritizing corporate interest over the public good. Thus, the United States faces a strategic tension in AI governance: balancing democratic commitments (rights, accountability, transparency) with pressures to accelerate innovation for economic and geopolitical competition.

Cross-nationally, AI governance appears to reflect deeper normative logics: the EU prioritizes rights-based regulation; China prioritizes rapid development for economic and political goals. In a time dominated by growing corporate influence in the government and overreach in regulatory domains, I analyze how the U.S. context interacts with public opinion towards government regulation of AI. Specifically, I investigate how Big Tech leaders’ participation in regulatory decision-making affects support for AI regulation aimed at safeguarding individual rights.

As Big Tech increases its influence, looming concerns emerge that citizens’ interests will succumb to corporate overrepresentation. Its involvement in public AI regulation laws often results in regulatory capture: corporate market interests take precedence over the default democratic norms and protections, including citizen welfare and public safety.

The research puzzle arises when considering the interaction of support for Big Tech with ideological stances towards regulation. With traditional conservatives valuing innovation against government intervention and traditional liberals supporting regulation at the expense of innovation, one might expect individuals to fall along such lines in their position on AI policies. However, the case of artificial intelligence governance and regulation has posed a unique historical moment in complicating many of the attitudes previously observed along such political lines. Democrats and Republicans alike harbor significant concerns about corporate overreach and seem to converge on a notable level of bipartisan support for better governance. As a relatively new actor in the political realm, Big Tech also has close ties to Washington across affiliations and groups. Scholars argue that public attitudes toward corporate power shape views on privacy, cybersecurity, and national security technologies, but it is unclear whether support for Big Tech’s involvement in governance translates into support for AI regulation. Because some Americans view it as efficient and innovative, while others see it as dangerous and unaccountable, the question remains to be explored: does public support for Big Tech in government roles shape Americans’ preferences for AI regulation?

Using data from sources such as YouGov, this project will address such questions as, What underlying values shape U.S. public opinion on AI governance? How do political parties shape attitudes towards AI regulation? How does the public view Big Tech’s appointment to the policy making process when considering AI governance? It will thus examine the uniqueness of the U.S.’s heavy private sector involvement as a mediator on individuals’ original political affiliations.

Author

• Grace Jang, University of California, Santa Barbara