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CO Gov. Jared Polis Just Showed Democrats How to Be Smart About AI and Serious About Housing [1]
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Date: 2025-06-16
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently took a principled stand by vetoing a bill that would have threatened the long-term future of AI.
The bill, one of many others like it in the United States today, would have banned AI-driven algorithms, which some lawmakers accused of driving up rents. This has become a popular trend among some politicians, but while proponents of such legislation mean well, the data doesn’t corroborate their concerns. We should be channeling this energy into helping people, not chasing technological scapegoats.
All the AI does is report on existing market conditions. It’s just a faster, better informed, and more efficient way of putting together the “comps” that every capable landlord, developer, and real estate agent already does. Cracking down on it won’t bring prices down, but it may distract from reforms that actually would.
The unfortunate truth is that, over the last several years, inflation has risen across the board while housing demand continues to exceed supply. That’s the reason rent and housing prices have been high. It’s not because of AI.
The real problem is one we’ve known about for years: a severe shortage of affordable homes combined with insufficient government support for low-income renters and first-time buyers. We need to focus our attention on solutions that actually deliver relief, not tech bans that grab headlines but change nothing. Blaming AI is a distraction we can’t afford at a time when Republicans are trying to slash funding for Section 8 vouchers by 40%. We Democrats owe it to our voters to tackle this issue head-on, not waste time and political capital on sideshows.
Turning AI into a scapegoat for the bipartisan failure on housing policy could also have a chilling effect on AI innovations that might help vulnerable families access help sooner. The Urban Institute, for example, has used machine learning models to predict evictions and housing instability by analyzing local-level data like rent burdens, job loss, and COVID-19 impacts.
Chicago’s Department of Housing worked with data scientists to identify areas with rising eviction risk to proactively deploy housing assistance.
Let’s stay focused on what matters. My home state of Texas is an example of how Democrats should really be confronting the housing crisis. We’re building more housing, bringing prices down, and expanding opportunity — not by banning innovation, but by using it wisely. Prices already dropping, and we’re using AI more than most states. For example, Dallas has much lower rents than San Francisco, even though SF banned rent-pricing AI and Dallas didn’t. It’s clear that rent hikes stem from policy failures, not from algorithms.
Democrats shouldn’t fear AI. But they also shouldn’t elevate it as the villain or the hero. Used right, it’s just a tool, and one that can help advance core progressive goals:
It can advance healthcare equity by identifying treatment disparities and improving diagnostics for underserved communities.
It can fight climate change by improving energy efficiency, optimizing the deployment of renewables like solar and wind, and monitoring pollution in real time.
It can streamline civil rights enforcement by detecting housing discrimination and wage theft.
It can help close educational attainment gaps by helping schools personalize learning for each student.
Of course, not all AI is good AI, and we’ve already taken steps to address that.
Congress and state governments have rightly cracked down on deepfakes, AI-driven fraud, and invasive surveillance tools.
Future steps could include regulating bias in hiring algorithms, ensuring transparency in high-stakes decisions, and protecting data privacy.
But banning helpful AI tools won’t fix broken systems. We can’t let fear lead us to block the very tools that could make housing more equitable and accessible for millions of Americans.
Gov. Polis understands that. That’s why he vetoed the ban on rent-setting AI but signed the Colorado AI Act, which bans algorithmic discrimination and requires that companies disclose when they use AI to make “consequential decisions.”
Democrats should use his actions as an example of how to tackle the real barriers to housing affordability, using every smart tool available to accomplish that goal.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/16/2328375/-CO-Gov-Jared-Polis-Just-Showed-Democrats-How-to-Be-Smart-About-AI-and-Serious-About-Housing?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
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