White House huddles with groups funded by left-wing orgs to craft ‘fair’ AI policy

The White House held a meeting on Friday with representatives from various organizations supported by left-leaning entities to shape policies related to artificial intelligence (AI), according to documents and disclosures.
The groups discussed the Biden administration’s dedication to formulating AI policies that promote “fair, open, and competitive markets,” according to a Saturday readout from the White House.
Represented groups have been financially supported by philanthropies of left-leaning billionaires such as George Soros and Pierre Omidyar, as well as other liberal entities.

President Joe Biden’s White House hosted a meeting on Friday with representatives from several organizations that are backed by left-wing entities to mold artificial intelligence (AI) policy, according to documents and disclosures.

Lael Brainard, assistant to the president and national economic advisor, held the meeting to talk about the Biden administration’s commitment to AI policies that foster “fair, open, and competitive markets,” according to a Saturday readout from the White House. The represented groups have received funding from left-wing billionaires’ philanthropies, and other liberal entities.

Demand Progress aims “to protect the democratic character of the Internet — and wield it to contest concentrated corporate power and hold government accountable,” according to its website. It was an initiative of the Sixteen Thirty Fund — a nonprofit managed by dark money behemoth Arabella Advisors, which boosts Democrats and bankrolls liberal activists — until 2022.

Demand Progress has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from left-wing billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network and Democracy Fund Voice, as well as George Soros’ Open Society Policy Center, according to the financials on its website.

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Another represented group, the Economic Security Project, is a fiscally sponsored project of the Arabella-managed Hopewell Fund and also receives funding from the Ford Foundation and Tides Foundation, according to its website.

Economic Security Project seeks to secure “concrete policy victories for the communities that need to see change now,” according to its website.

The Tech Oversight Project gets its funding from organizations such as Omidyar Network and Economic Security Project Action, and groups “that believe in tech accountability, competition reform, and reducing the harms of Big Tech platforms,” according to its website.

Omidyar Network gave Open Markets Institute, which was represented at the meeting, $200,000 in 2023, while Open Society Foundations granted the group $600,000 in 2022. Open Markets Institute “works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world,” according to its website.

AI Now Institute, another organization represented at the meeting, receives financial backing from Open Society Foundations, Omidyar’s Luminate and Omidyar Network as well as the Ford Foundation, according to its website. It works to advance “policy strategy to redirect away from the current trajectory: unbridled commercial surveillance, consolidation of power in very few companies, and a lack of public accountability.”

Center for Democracy and Technology has received over $500,000 from the Ford Foundation and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, as well as over $100,000 from Open Society Foundations, Omidyar Network, and Omidyar’s Democracy Fund, according to its financials.

American Economic Liberties Project also had a representative at the meeting and received $250,000 from Omidyar Network in 2023, according to its grants database. Open Society Foundations gave the group $500,000 in 2021, its database reads.

American Economic Liberties Project is a “hub for organizing a diverse set of leading policy experts and advocates in areas impacted by concentrated power,” according to its website. It “call[s] on the government to re-assert essential policy tools — like aggressive investigatory agendas, robust antitrust enforcement, anti-corruption measures, corporate accountability, and a reinvigorated administrative state — to challenge monopolies’ dominance over markets and society.”

The Biden administration unveiled a broad executive order on AI in October covering areas such as safety, privacy, and “advancing equity.” One mandate of the order is to “promote a fair, open, and competitive AI ecosystem.”

The administration has previously collaborated with some of the same left-wing philanthropies on an AI initiative to combat “disinformation” and shield “democracy” from AI threats, according to a project document. Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled the program in November and the philanthropies, including Open Society Foundations, Omidyar Network, and Democracy Fund, are contributing over $200 million collectively.

Some of the organizations participating in this initiative, such as Open Society Foundations, Omidyar Network, and Democracy Fund, have funded groups working to censor and demonetize conservative content online.

The White House, Demand Progress, Economic Security Project, AI Now Institute Open Markets Institute, American Economic Liberties Project, and Tech Oversight Project did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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