By Paul Steidler, for the Lexington Institute

This Wednesday evening, April 29, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will hold a controversial forum, “The Existential Threat of AI.” As an added draw to the doom and gloom, he has recruited two AI experts affiliated with China’s government, incurred the wrath of U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent, and received much other attention for the event.

The forum, though, will do nothing for his Vermont constituents, who are saddled with some of the country’s highest electricity bills and hardly any tech investment, particularly in AI. The state is also afflicted with slow economic growth and a shrinking workforce.

The blocking and tackling work of elected officials is to advocate for, and attract more jobs and investments. Senator Sanders should pick up that challenge and do the work for his constituents. All it would take is one major investment from a major tech company in tiny Vermont to galvanize the state’s economic prospects and retain more young people.  

At the turn of the century, Vermont thrived when it had 8,500 jobs from IBM. Since then, IBM sold that business to GlobalFoundries. The number of employees now, at about 2,000, still makes it among the largest in the state. Vermonters would benefit by having Senator Sanders court new investments in tech and energy in the Green Mountain State. Without that, the state really does have something to fear.