Michigan Senate Candidate Mallory McMorrow Proposes 'Token Tax' on AI Firms
The Democratic candidate's AI safety plan mandates human oversight for critical sectors and taxes AI revenue to fund social safety nets.
Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow has launched a comprehensive AI policy agenda designed to protect workers from displacement and establish rigorous safety guardrails for emerging technology. The plan positions AI regulation not as a barrier to progress, but as a necessary safety framework for the modern economy.
At the center of McMorrow's proposal is a "token tax" levied on AI companies, which would generate revenue to fund state-funded aid programs including SNAP and Medicaid. To address the immediate threat of job loss, she is calling for the creation of an AI Workforce Reinvestment Fund dedicated to upskilling and retraining workers whose roles are automated. Beyond economics, McMorrow is pushing for "human-in-the-loop" requirements, ensuring that AI cannot operate autonomously in high-stakes sectors such as healthcare, military technology, and hiring processes. She also advocates for mandatory third-party or government reviews of frontier models before they are deployed to the public.
The Infrastructure Pressure
This policy push comes as Michigan faces the physical reality of the AI boom. OpenAI has announced work on a 1GW data center in the state as part of the "Stargate" project, highlighting the tension between technological expansion and local resources. Other candidates in the race are addressing this from different angles: Abdul El-Sayed has focused his agenda on the environmental and utility impacts of such data centers, specifically citing concerns over water contamination and electricity reliability. Meanwhile, Haley Stevens has emphasized the implementation of AI for small businesses and has supported funding for the NIST Center for AI Standards and Innovation.
A New Safety Paradigm
McMorrow's approach attempts to bridge the gap between unrestricted innovation and total moratoriums by drawing a parallel to Michigan's own industrial history. "There is a lane... where guardrails don’t mean you’re anti-innovation," McMorrow stated, noting that the auto industry utilizes rigorous safety testing, seatbelts, and recalls to protect the public without halting production. By applying this automotive-style safety framework to AI, she aims to appeal to swing voters who are anxious about both existential risks and the loss of stable employment.
The Political Testing Ground
As the campaign progresses, the Michigan Senate race is serving as a critical testing ground for how AI safety and economic displacement are messaged to the electorate. The outcome will likely signal whether voters prefer a regulatory approach that taxes the AI industry to fund social safety nets or a more business-centric model focused on standards and implementation. Observers will be watching to see if McMorrow's specific proposals, such as the token tax, gain traction as a viable model for other states facing similar technological disruptions.