The lesson is not that Republicans should join the campaign against artificial intelligence. The lesson is that Republicans should listen to voters before Democrats turn legitimate concerns about the AI boom into an argument against technological progress itself.

Artificial intelligence may be one of the most important technologies in American history. It could transform medicine, education, manufacturing, and national security. It could make American businesses more productive and help the United States maintain its technological edge over China.

Republicans should want America to lead the AI revolution.

But leading the AI revolution does not mean giving corporations a blank check.

Across the country, communities are debating the rapid expansion of data centers needed to power artificial intelligence. These facilities can bring investment, jobs, and economic growth. But they also require enormous amounts of electricity and significant investments in infrastructure.

That raises a question conservatives should be willing to ask: Who is going to pay for this growth?

If families and working people are forced to absorb higher electricity bills or other costs to support the expansion of artificial intelligence, Republicans should not dismiss their concerns as anti-growth. If communities are expected to accept a lower quality of life while corporations receive the profits, conservatives should not automatically side with the corporations.

Technological progress is not an end in itself. The purpose of a growing economy is to improve the lives of the people who make that economy possible.

This should be an easy principle for Republicans to embrace.

For years, conservatives have correctly criticized Democrats for using government to pick winners and losers. Republicans have also rightly opposed corporate welfare when it takes the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies for politically connected companies.

That same skepticism should apply to the AI revolution.

A corporation should not be able to privatize the profits of technological expansion while families are left to subsidize the costs through higher utility bills, strained infrastructure, or increased pressure on local resources.

This is not an argument for a national moratorium. It is not an argument for allowing environmental activists to block American innovation. And it is certainly not an argument for surrendering the AI race to China.

It is an argument for making corporations responsible for the costs they create.

If a company wants to build a massive data center, it should be expected to pay a fair share of the infrastructure costs it creates. If electricity demand increases dramatically, policymakers should pursue an energy strategy that expands supply rather than simply passing costs onto consumers. If corporations receive public incentives, communities should be able to determine whether those incentives produce enough public benefit to justify them.

This is not anti-business. It is pro-market.

Markets work best when companies are responsible for the costs of their own decisions. Conservatives should be wary when businesses are allowed to keep the upside while taxpayers, ratepayers, and local communities absorb the downside.

Republicans should also recognize the political danger of ignoring public concerns.

People are already struggling with the cost of living. They are paying more for housing, food, energy, and other necessities. Telling them they must now accept higher electricity bills or a lower quality of life because massive corporations need more power for artificial intelligence is not a sustainable political message.

Nor should conservatives assume that voters who question the pace of data-center expansion are opposed to technology. Many people want technological progress. They simply want to know whether they will benefit from it.

That distinction matters.

Democrats may respond to public anxiety with moratoriums and restrictions. Republicans should offer a better alternative: Build the future, but make sure the people are not forced to pay the price for it.

The Republican Party should be the party of American innovation. It should support entrepreneurs, energy production, scientific research, and technological advancement. It should make it easier, not harder, to build the infrastructure America needs to compete with China.

But Republicans should also be the party that asks whether ordinary people are being left behind.

The future should not belong only to corporations with the largest balance sheets. The AI revolution should create opportunities for workers, lower costs for consumers, and strengthen the country as a whole.

Republicans cannot claim to be the party of affordability while ignoring the costs imposed on families in the name of technological progress. They should not allow Democrats to become the only party willing to say that corporations should not be able to privatize the benefits of economic growth while socializing the costs.

The answer to public anxiety about artificial intelligence should not be to stop building the future.

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But neither should it be to tell families they must sacrifice their wallets and quality of life so corporations can build that future faster.

Republicans should embrace artificial intelligence. They should champion American technological leadership. But they should also make one thing clear: The families who power this country should not be forced to pay the price for the corporations that want to power the future.

David Sypher Jr. is a conservative political commentator from Rahway, New Jersey.