Only the American people can save AI

The history of American exceptionalism is defined by a double-helix: a story of world-altering inventions and a story of the governance that gave them purpose. When the automobile first revolutionized our mobility, we did not just build engines. We built a framework for safety and accountability — including seatbelts and speed limits — that turned a novel machine into a reliable tool connecting the American people to greater access, agency and opportunity.

For decades, the “move fast and break things” mantra has sidelined the public by treating the American consumer as a data point rather than a shareholder. Today, consumers are facing the consequences of a counterfeit bill of goods that promised the internet age would be the great equalizer, democratizing information and bringing us closer to ourselves and each other. Instead, digital tools turned the extraction of our most personal data into a business model, eroding trust in our institutions and threatening the very democratic principles they promised to expand.

At this moment, we face a similar challenge as we race to guide the development of one of the most consequential technologies of our time. While the dominant narrative positions it as a high-stakes “race” for AI leadership measured in GPUs, data centers and the soaring valuations of a few coastal firms, we are overlooking our greatest competitive advantage: the American people. If we want to lead the world, our strength will not come from raw processing power alone, but from a technology that is vetted, trusted and shaped by democratic values — built for and with the American people.

The scale of this challenge is manifesting in real-time across our state capitals. This year represents a critical turning point as hundreds of legislative proposals across every jurisdiction attempt to address the growing concerns of consumers. From deepfake protections in the South to algorithmic bias mandates in the West, we are quickly creating a digital protection gap.

While these individual efforts reflect a healthy democratic impulse to protect the communities they serve, a family’s digital rights and a small business’s ability to innovate now depend entirely on its zip code. This erodes the very idea of a “unified American stack.” Instead of a solid foundation that supports everyone, we are building a shaky floor with cracks big enough for people to fall through. If we want AI to be the engine that powers a golden age of American prosperity, it has to be a tool that works for everyone, regardless of their area code.

This legislative fragmentation is also colliding with a massive physical expansion as communities experience an infrastructure “supercycle” moving from the coast to the heartland. Projects like the $100 billion “Stargate” AI campus are bringing gigawatt-scale computing to states like Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio, and with it, new anxieties. Families are increasingly concerned about local impact, who foots the bill, and which communities actually stand to benefit. These points of friction can be avoided if local oversight and public consent are integrated into the development process. By ensuring that the people living alongside these projects have a stake in their development, we can turn a disruptive expansion into a model for shared economic opportunity. 

The new digital frontier is being negotiated right now in our classrooms, our factories, our local governments and in our back yards. We stand at a crossroads: we can continue down a path of regulatory fragmentation that leaves us with a “shaky floor” of confusion and power imbalance, or we can define a uniquely American standard that is human-centered, accountable and open to all. The era where a small handful of tech CEOs dictate the rules in isolation has treated the American public as passengers in a vehicle they can’t control; it is time we gave them the wheel and invited them to help navigate toward a shared destination.

Only then can the U.S. truly lead the world. We are currently witnessing a global trust gap — illustrated by a steady decline in public confidence and a growing movement at home and abroad to “de-risk” from American models of innovation. The hard truth is that the world will not trust American technology if Americans do not trust it themselves. Recent data shows that global citizens now trust the EU to regulate this frontier more than the U.S. — a gap that will only close when we facilitate a society-wide debate that gives the American people a meaningful voice and the agency to help build our shared future.

By centering the American consumer, we unlock the trust necessary to realize our full national potential and provide a blueprint for the world to follow. Together, we can build a future where innovation powers our economy without leaving our people behind. It’s time we built a foundation the world can trust, and an “American stack” that carries us all forward.

Alex Roark is CEO of the A-I Policy Forum.