On June 24, 2026, in Washington, DC, we convened policymakers, researchers, journalists, technology experts, and political strategists for an event designed to help shape the next phase of American political debate. The convening elevated the fight against concentrated private power as a central priority for democratic renewal while helping refine and mainstream emerging arguments around platform power and political economy.
CMDG director Courtney Radsch argues how policymakers must urgently regulate the AI industry before it replicates and supercharges "surveillance capitalism" business models that commercially exploit personal data and reward psychological manipulation
Without these orders, the 60% of Europeans who use an Android device would be locked into Gemini as their only system level AI assistant, and Google would continue to leverage its overwhelming monopoly over search data to gain an unfair advantage over its competitors in AI development.
In this issue, we explore how California’s COMPETE Act sets the stage for California to become a global superpower in antitrust, as the Trump administration all but suspends federal enforcement.