Abdul El-Sayed Proposes Public Ownership Plan for AI Companies

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has unveiled a plan called AI Under Democracy that calls for public ownership measures and other reforms aimed at artificial intelligence companies, according to a Guardian opinion piece by columnist Jerel Ezell. El-Sayed, a Democrat and physician by training, followed up this month with a companion proposal, AI Under Control, Ezell wrote.

The timing tracks with a shift in voter sentiment. Seventy percent of Americans said this summer they are more worried than excited about artificial intelligence, according to an NBC News poll cited by Ezell — what the column calls a reversal from attitudes "just a couple of years ago." A separate Quinnipiac poll taken several weeks earlier found 73% of Americans are concerned AI poses a threat to human existence, Ezell reported.

What does AI Under Democracy propose?

The plan centers on public ownership mechanisms for AI companies, Ezell wrote. The column does not itemize specific ownership stakes, revenue-sharing formulas, or enforcement timelines, so the full scope of the proposal is not yet public in the sourced material. El-Sayed released the plan several weeks before Michigan's Democratic primary, when he was, in Ezell's words, "still a relative underdog" with "threadbare political credentials."

How does AI Under Control differ from the original plan?

El-Sayed released AI Under Control this month as a companion document to AI Under Democracy, according to the Guardian column. Ezell does not break out separate provisions between the two proposals, treating them as a joint policy package rather than competing frameworks.

"It couldn't come at a better time," Guardian columnist Jerel Ezell wrote of the AI proposals, framing them as a potential antidote to ideological gridlock over AI policy.

Why does the plan draw interest across party lines?

El-Sayed is "praised by progressives, begrudgingly tolerated by moderate Democrats and largely demonized by Republicans," Ezell wrote, yet argued the AI plan could forge rare alignment among those groups. The 70% and 73% poll figures cut across the partisan lines that typically separate Ezell's three camps, a dynamic the column treats as the core reason the proposal has gained traction beyond El-Sayed's base.

What else is happening with AI oversight right now?

Scrutiny of AI's footprint is not confined to campaign platforms. Finnish authorities opened a criminal probe into land clearance tied to a Google data center project, HTT News reported, underscoring that regulators outside the U.S. are also examining the physical and legal footprint of AI infrastructure build-outs.

What to watch

• Whether El-Sayed releases implementation detail for AI Under Democracy's public ownership provisions before Michigan's general election.
• How rival Senate candidates in Michigan respond to the plan as the 2026 midterm campaign continues.
• Whether other candidates adopt similar public-ownership language given the NBC and Quinnipiac poll numbers Ezell cited.
• Continued regulatory actions tied to AI infrastructure, including the Finland probe into data center land clearance.