The BaseEssayThe Guardian
Could Abdul El-Sayed’s plan for AI companies stave off catastrophe?
In a Guardian opinion piece, Jerel Ezell argues that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's plan, AI Under Democracy, could bridge political divides. It would force divestment from frontier labs and make most board seats publicly chosen.
Why it matters
The same thing, for different readers.
What it means for you
A Michigan Senate candidate proposes that the public pick most board members at big AI companies, and a Guardian columnist says polls show growing public worry about AI.
For lawmakers
Abdul El-Sayed's plan would require Google, Microsoft and others to divest from frontier labs and regulate data centres, going further than moratorium proposals.
The question it raises
Jerel Ezell asks whether the public should hold a controlling say in companies building powerful AI, a question of democratic ownership over a technology.
In their own words
Every quotation was found, word for word, in the text we saved from the source. That shows the words are there; it does not make them true, or prove the speaker meant them as quoted.
From the source’s own text.
“Far and away the most controversial – but essential – part of El-Sayed’s plan to thwart an AI-fueled catastrophe is his call for 50% + one of board seats (a simple majority) at influential AI companies to be publicly appointed or democratically elected.”
“Under El-Sayed’s proposal, the tech giants would have to divest or abandon those investments within a defined transitional period.”
The record
- Questions
- Who can demand evidence, delay a release or stop an unsafe deployment? · How fast is AI advancing, and where is it heading?
- People
- Jerel Ezell (Wrote it, Executive director, Center for AI and Everybody; assistant professor, University of Chicago) · Abdul El-Sayed (About them, Democratic candidate for US Senate, Michigan) · Mike Rogers (Mentioned, Republican challenger) · Bernie Sanders (Mentioned) · Sam Altman (Mentioned, OpenAI) · Dario Amodei (Mentioned, Anthropic)
- What we read
- We read the whole source.
- Found by
- The Radar, run of October 30, 2026, via
the-guardian-ai(tier 2: a major outlet’s own reporting) - Cite this
- The Guardian, “Could Abdul El-Sayed’s plan for AI companies stave off catastrophe?”, October 29, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/the-guardian-2026-10-29-el-sayed-ai-under-democracy