Tom Steyer’s brother is key to how he would regulate AI as governor

from Jeanne KuangCalMatters

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Long before billionaire Tom Steyer was are pouring in record amounts when he ran for governor of California, the family name carried significant influence in Sacramento.

The investor-turned-climate-activist’s older brother, Jim Steyer, is CEO of the influential California nonprofit Common sense mediaknown for helping parents choose appropriate media for children and fighting the entertainment industry over violent video games. A strong and respected campaigner for tighter regulation of children’s content, Steyer has in recent years turned his attention to social media and AI chatbots.

That means if Tom Steyer wins the election, the governor will be close to being a prominent advocate for tougher tech laws as Democrats fight to regulate AI. This would be a change from current Governor Gavin Newsom, who sought balance AI regulations eager to keep tech booming in California.

Steyer’s connection has some advocates optimistic. Lawmakers and advocates for tech regulations said they expected Jim Steyer to be unconcerned about his political views with his brother.

Tom Steyer, one of the leading Democrats in the race, is running as a progressive and promises to tightly regulate industries such as oil, utilities and technology. He has promoted an aggressive technology policy agenda that includes restrictions on AI privacy and safety in the workplace, collecting fees from AI data processing to pay for worker retraining and cash benefits, and requiring social media safety audits.

In his plan, Tom Steyer cites his work with Common Sense Media, which he says he “helped (his) brother Jim Steyer found and build.”

“After watching the experiment that social media companies conducted on our children, I know we cannot allow the same to happen to AI,” his tech policy plan reads. “As governor, I will do everything in my power to keep California’s children safe and prepare them for the age of AI.”

A larger opinion on tech policy?

Tech industry advocates are cautious. Common Sense and Big Tech have recently clashed over age restrictions and industry liability for harmful content, although they also collaborate to promote tech education and fair Internet access.

“Certainly Jim Steyer and Common Sense Media will have a bigger say,” said Peter Lero-Muñoz, senior vice president of the business group Bay Area Council. “Common Sense Media will have a huge impact on California tech policy if Mr. Steyer becomes governor.”

Council members include Meta, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI.

A boost of common sense to limit the use of social media by children under the age of 16 united many democrats, including Newsom. The proposal comes amid findings that the platforms are harmful to youth mental health and are designed to be addictive. Tom Steyer supports an age ban, along with several of his Democratic rivals.

The industry opposes the proposal, in part because it would require tech companies to collect large amounts of data on users’ ages, Lero-Muñoz said.

Tom Steyer told CalMatters last week that he hasn’t talked to his brother about social media and AI policy. He also said he had no opinion on two bills inspired by Common Sense and OpenAI this year to more tightly regulate how chatbots interact with minors.

Asked if the relationship with his brother would influence his tech policy, he said he trusted Jim Steyer’s expertise but would not “slavishly follow what my brother says.”

“My brother has been protecting children for 50 years and I listen to him, but it’s not like he suddenly becomes me,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a conflict of interest that he’s trying to do his job and I’m trying to do my job.”

Jim Steyer did not respond to repeated interview requests sent to a Common Sense Media representative. A spokeswoman for the nonprofit, Eda Collins Coleman, wrote in an email that while “Jim strongly supports his brother in his personal capacity,” the nonprofit “does not get involved in electoral politics.”

Strange bedfellows

Jim Steyer praised his younger brother’s candidacy, writing to X after a televised debate last month that Tom Steyer was “the fighter California needs right now.” He also helped his brother’s campaign during a short-lived 2020 presidential campaign.

Jim Steyer founded Common Sense Media in 2003 as a rating service for movies, TV shows, websites and digital content to help parents assess their age appropriateness. Tom Steyer serves on the board of advisors, and he and his wife, Kat, have given the nonprofit at least $5 million over the years.

In 2005, the organization pushed hard for a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children without parental consent. The law was later struck down by the US Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds.

The organization soon branched out into technology and social media, becoming one of Sacramento’s most influential voices on digital safety for children and regularly testifies in legislative committee hearings. In 2016, as Common Sense tried to build political influence on children’s issues, Jim Steyer told the San Francisco Chronicle that it had “nothing to do with my brother’s political career.” The nonprofit has supported dozens of proposed regulations over the past few years, including a major privacy law passed in 2018 that would allow consumers and customers to force businesses to delete personal data collected about them.

Common Sense now regularly publishes studies on the effects of social media and AI on children’s mental health. It also reviews AI tools for parents, evaluating how they deal with young users who express suicidal thoughts or encourage children to develop healthy human relationships.

Last fall, Newsom vetoed the common sense bill this would effectively ban AI chatbots for minors. Lawmakers passed the measure after a spate of reports of teenagers dying by suicide after developing relationships with ChatGPT which is made by OpenAI. Some parents have alleged in lawsuits that the chatbot encouraged or taught children to self-harm.

Jim Steyer decided to put chatbot restriction measure on statewide ballot; OpenAI plans to take a countermeasure that essentially mirrors current law. The two surprised other regulation advocates in January when they announced instead, they partnered on a joint ballot measure.

Jim Steyer recently drew criticism from fellow advocates when Politico reported that Common Sense is seeking financial support from OpenAI and other companies to create an AI safety institute. Critics worry that the partnership would allow the industry to audit itself — especially worrisome since many advocates already feel the compromise ballot measure doesn’t go far enough.

The discussion has moved mostly to the state legislature, where lawmakers are making progress two accounts based on the compromise measure. They will require tech companies to verify the age of their users and redesign their platforms to prevent chatbots from encouraging harmful behavior and providing the underhanded responses that child advocates worry about.

“Children and younger people, they don’t have the ability in the same ways as adults to differentiate between human and quasi-human relationships with these types of technologies,” the bill’s author said Buffy Weeksan Oakland Democrat who worked at Common Sense Media.

The legislation also requires third-party audits of chatbot safety, which Wicks said the tech industry opposes.

Neither Common Sense Media’s Coleman nor an OpenAI representative responded to inquiries about the potential safety institute.

“We will be as rigorous and honest as ever in evaluating technology products that harm children and teens and the educational and cognitive development of young people,” Coleman wrote in a statement. “We have long supported third-party child safety audits, which much of the industry opposes.”

Jamie Court, president of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, has worked with the two Steyers on policy and is among those calling for tighter restrictions on tech platforms. He said he’s “concerned” that Common Sense, Sacramento’s most powerful technology policy advocate, might partner with the industry, but he’s not mad at Jim Steyer.

“Jim might have a tougher audience with Tom than another governor” on technical policy, Court joked. “Jim is a little more accommodating to the companies because he has to work with them. Tom shoots more from the hip. Tom can be a little more radical.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.