A little-known group stacked with lobbyists for the artificial intelligence industry has been sending congressional staffers on upscale trips over the past year to tour AI companies in San Francisco, London, New York City, and Los Angeles, according to House and Senate gift travel disclosures. On the junkets, sponsored by the Innovative Future Collective (IFC), senior congressional aides are taken...
This article presents a potential influence campaign by the AI industry, as represented by the Innovative Future Collective (IFC), to push for federal preemption legislation. The IFC's trips for congressional staffers to tour AI companies can be seen as an attempt to influence lawmakers' understanding and perception of AI's capabilities and applications. The dominance of corporate interests in the IFC's advisory committee raises questions about the balance between industry influence and public i...