Why corporate AI super PACs spent $27 million on a local election

Hello and welcome to Regulator , the newsletter for Verge subscribers chronicling the misadventures of their favorite tech overlords and Washington swamp creatures. (“Favorite” is, of course, subjective.) Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here , especially if you want the hot scoop on quality Amazon Prime Day deals recommended by the wonderful humans of The Verge’s newsroom, and not by a slop algorithm. Some news: The Verge now has a special subscription price of $10 / year for students with a valid email address ! It gets you everything that a regular subscription gets: ad-free podcasts, subscriber Q&As, and much, much more. We’re coming to you one day early to give you a bird’s-eye view of the New York 12th Congressional District primary before polls close tonight. If you care about artificial intelligence, you’re going to want to watch this race because the tech industry has spent an astounding $27.83 million to influence the results . A few weeks ago, Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy family’s zillennial scion running for the open NY-12 House seat in Manhattan, posted a wild insinuation on X : that he was being astroturfed by bots and fake accounts working on behalf of his rival, the progressive New York state assemblyman Alex Bores . A Politico New York article followed up on the claims and uncovered a deeper network of coordinated digital messaging, verifying at least eight new accounts on TikTok and Instagram posting pro-Bores content. …