‘Dystopian technocracy’: Ron DeSantis says ‘Founding Fathers’ wouldn’t trust AI kingpins

For Gov. Ron DeSantis, artificial intelligence and the “dystopian technocracy” it spawns doesn’t compute with a republican form of government.

“We should welcome technologies that enhance the human experience, but I’m not interested in subsidizing or furthering technologies that seek to supplant the human experience,” he said this weekend.

In his latest denunciation of the tech sector, DeSantis derided the “garbage in, garbage out” info delivered by AI “chatbots,” then questioned the motives of unnamed CEOs before alleging that some are characterized by an “incredibly destructive … transhumanist impulse.”

“Do you trust a handful of titans in Big Tech to be the curators of all the information that’s going to be impacting our education, our businesses, our culture, I don’t trust them. And I know our Founding Fathers wouldn’t have trusted them,” DeSantis said Saturday to the Pennsylvania Family Institute^[1].

He has repeatedly blasted the tech sector this year.

Last month, he vowed not to let data centers draw power^[2] at the expense of Florida residents and businesses.

He also said AI would abet fraud.

“People are going to use AI to scam, to cheat, to steal, to harm people. And I think we’re going to have to come to grips. I mean we’re going to be working on a policy for Florida, and it may require some legislation to be able to provide adequate protections for folks,” DeSantis said at the 2025 Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference^[3] in July.

He also has argued there’s “cause for concern^[4]” about valuation bubbles related to the tech sector in the stock market.

“It seems to be driven more on speculation about future profits rather than them making money now. On artificial intelligence, there seems to be a view that this time’s different,” he said at the most recent meeting of the Florida Cabinet^[5].