Silicon Valley Progressive Democrat Calls for ‘New Social Contract’ for AI
Does not support moratorium on data center construction proposed by fellow progressives Bernie Sanders and AOC.
WASHINGTON, April 15, 2026 – Taxing billionaires will be necessary to fund the progressive and activist political agency proposed by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. But that doesn’t mean that he’s opposed in principle to technology and artificial intelligence.
“I’m not an AI accelerationist, I’m not an AI doomer, but I’m an AI democratist,” Khanna said in remarks Tuesday at the National Press Club on his proposed “billionaire tax.”
Khanna touted his willingness to oppose the billionaires in his district as political courage, and criticized efforts to fund primary challengers against him as undemocratic.
“They’re keyboard warriors, they don’t have the time to actually show up to town hall,” he said.
Khanna’s other proposals include a national industrial bank and a federally funded network of trade schools. He dismissed claims that his policies are socialist, but believes that reductions in defense spending and the five percent tax on billionaires would cover the cost of increased entitlement spending.
“There’s a lot of things you can call me, but you’re not gonna be able to call the guy who represents a district with $20 trillion a socialist,” Khanna said, mentioning his recent conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the future of AI. “I have an actual road map” for economic prosperity, he added.
Khanna denied his proposals were “anti-business,” and said he supports billionaire “patriots” such as Warren Buffet who share his understanding of their responsibility for the national welfare.
“Once you’ve built wealth… you need to do your part to help fund the rest of the country,” Khanna said.
“You don’t have to be draconian about it: you need to say that Democrats will actually protect these jobs, making sure we have a human in the loop,” Khanna said. “We shouldn’t have a race to the bottom with China — we should have the safest, most excellent AI.”
Asked by Broadband Breakfast about his reaction to rising violence against data centers and the proposed moratorium on the construction of data centers by Vermont Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Khanna said that he does not support a moratorium
But he believes that the nation needs a “new social contract” whereby data centers provide renewable energy, dry cooling and local investment.
“They need to pay for the cost of electricity,” Khanna said. “The need to make sure that there’s no excessive water user, and they need to be investing in the local community for the public infrastructure there.”
He said that was similar to what other tech-savvy nations like Finland and Singapore have done.
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