Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.

Tech Brew

Tech Policy

Patrick Kulp

techbrew.com

Republicans and Democrats may not agree on much these days, but they seem to have some common ground: fears over AI.

A Pew Research survey found that almost equal portions of Democrats and Republicans surveyed (51% and 50%, respectively) say they’re more concerned than excited about AI’s growing presence in everyday life.

The finding marks a shift from Pew’s previous surveys in 2021 and 2023, when Republicans were about 15 points more likely than Democrats to be more concerned by the technology.

Pew’s research echoes some other studies that have found that fears around AI and a desire to regulate it tend to be bipartisan issues. A 

 from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation, a 

 the AI Policy Institute have all shown similar agreement across party lines.

In past years of Pew’s survey, Democrats have been more likely to be either equally concerned and excited by AI or more excited overall. There was a marked rise in concerns among all groups between 2021 and 2023, when the late 2022 release of ChatGPT first made AI an inescapable topic in the news.

That alignment isn’t quite as pronounced when it comes to questions of regulation, however. Only 36% of Democrats trust the US government to effectively regulate AI, while 54% of Republicans do.

More than half (54%) of Democrats trust regulation from the European Union, which has already made strides in enacting policy guardrails through its 

. Only a third of Republicans share that sentiment. Very few Americans of either party (13% total) trust the Chinese government’s AI rulemaking.

 are still more likely than Democrats to oppose AI regulation, Transformer recently 

 on a growing schism over AI regulation within the GOP. The more populist wing has increasingly been at odds with the party’s Silicon Valley AI boosters.

Over the summer, 99 senators resoundingly voted down a 

 that would have constricted states’ ability to regulate AI. As alarming stories of 

 have grown more numerous, the Federal Trade Commission has 

 an inquiry into AI chatbot companions. Senate Republicans have also launched a probe into major AI companies over child safety concerns.

 It’s not just Republicans or Democrats in the US; another Pew survey last month found that people around the world tend to be more concerned than excited by the rise of AI in daily life (34%) or equally concerned and excited (42%).

Interestingly, Americans and the world at large also have fairly similar trust (or distrust) in the US’s ability to regulate AI, Pew found. Worldwide, only 37% said they trust US policy (versus 44% in the US) and 48% do not trust it (versus 47% in the US).

image of US capitol in front of circuit board background

Republicans and Democrats agree on one thing: AI is scary

A Pew survey found that a consensus has emerged between voters in both parties.

Jordyn Grzelewski

The numbers are in—and they show that the EV market has officially started a new chapter.

Battery-electric vehicles made up just over 5% of new-vehicle retail sales in October, according to JD Power and GlobalData. That’s down more than half from September’s all-time high of nearly 13%.

 of federal tax credits for EVs of up to $7,500, thanks to President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill. Industry analysts and executives predicted EV sales would fall as soon as the credits went away, and October’s sales numbers back them up.

Ford’s EV sales fell by nearly 25% YoY, while the automaker’s internal combustion engine vehicle sales grew 3.4% and its overall sales rose 1.6%.

Kia’s sales ticked up slightly in October. While the brand’s electrified vehicle sales (which include hybrids) grew by 16%, some all-electric models, including the EV6 and EV9, had lower sales.

Sister brand Hyundai reported a 2% YoY sales decline in October. Sales of the all-electric Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 models were down.

“Hybrid vehicles led the way in October with a 41% increase, and electrified sales were up 8%,” Randy Parker, Hyundai Motor North America’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We saw strong EV demand leading up to the expiration of federal tax credits, and while that shift has temporarily disrupted the market, we’re confident it will reset.”

Honda’s sales inched up 0.7% YoY. The Honda brand’s electrified vehicle sales (including hybrids) set a new record for the month and made up nearly one-third of brand sales, though sales of its all-electric Prologue model dropped 80% from September.

 in the months leading up to the credit’s expiration, boosting the new-vehicle market.

In an analysis released before industry sales reports, data provider Urban Science reported that industry sales were down as of October 25, “driven mainly by a 43% decline in battery and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.”

Tom Kondrat, global lead for advanced analytics at Urban Science, said he expects BEV sales “to remain behind last year’s pace through Q4 and into the early part of next year” before picking up in the spring.

S&P Global Mobility analysts expect slower EV sales to contribute to “muted growth” in the new-vehicle market through the rest of the year.

Hybrids’ market share climbed two percentage points in October to 14.2%, according to JD Power and GlobalData.

“While hybrid growth is encouraging, the recent EV market correction underscores a critical lesson: consumers prefer having access to a range of powertrain options that deliver comparable value,” Tyson Jominy, SVP of data and analytics at JD Power, said in a statement. “A singular focus on any one technology—be it EVs or hybrids—risks repeating past missteps. A diversified strategy that embraces multiple powertrain solutions will be essential to meeting evolving consumer preferences.”

Jessica Caldwell, AVP of insights for Edmunds, wrote in a blog post that “October mark[ed] the start of a reset period: one defined less by incentive-driven urgency and more by buyers motivated by genuine interest in EV ownership.”

And interest remains: According to Edmunds’ data, EV buyer consideration saw only a “modest” dip, from 12.7% in September to 9% in October. Going forward, Caldwell said, the EV market will be driven less by incentives and more by considerations like model variety and ownership costs.

“The ‘reset era’ will reveal which brands and retailers can make EV ownership feel not just aspirational but practical and within reach for the next wave of buyers,” she said.

An electric vehicle charger resembling a downward market arrow hovering over a charging port

October auto sales reflect EV market’s new reality

Analysts say the future of the EV market will be less incentive-driven, but that interest in battery-powered vehicles remains. 

Tricia Crimmins

Geothermal’s status as the darling of renewable energy is heating up.

The emerging baseload energy source retained its clean energy tax credits via President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, bringing geothermal growth to an “

.” In the months since, geothermal residential heating company Dandelion Energy and developer Fervo Energy both introduced policies to propel industry expansion.

Though mostly supportive of geothermal, the OBBBA’s tax credit changes forced residential geothermal companies to pivot a bit. The bill sunsetted the 25D clean energy home improvement tax credit, which can be applied to systems like Dandelion’s, but allowed residential geothermal heating systems to be leased.

“It’s a big loss to not be able to just offer that [25D] tax credit,” Dandelion’s CTO and co-founder, Kathy Hannun, told Tech Brew this summer. “With a lease, we can still give homeowners a mechanism for monetizing that tax credit.”

Ever since the bill’s signing on July 4, the industry has been racing to set up leasing programs, and Dandelion recently announced plans to partner with Upstream Lease to offer leased residential systems. Dan Yates, Dandelion’s CEO, told us that the program is a win-win-win—for builders, home buyers, and Upstream.

After home builders purchase Dandelion’s geothermal heating systems—which are subsidized through the federal tax credit and may be eligible for further discounts from state, local, and utility incentives—they install the system and sell it to Upstream. Then, when builders sell the home to buyers, the cost of the leased system is minimal—Yates said as low as $10 a month—because its up-front cost was discounted.

“It’s a de minimis lease amount” for homeowners, Yates said. “They’re paying 10 bucks a month for the system, and they’re saving $30 a month in avoided energy costs.”

If the Upstream lease sounds a lot like residential solar leasing, that’s because Dandelion modeled the new program after it.

“Rooftop solar really took off when leasing was available, and we see a similar opportunity here,” Yates said. Solar leasing made the residential renewable infrastructure “

And by Dandelion’s calculations, leasing residential geothermal systems is well worth it: Yates said it could unlock a billion-dollar market for the company.

 that growth happens responsibly.” Its “Geothermal Sustainable Development Pact,” released last week, sets out 37 principles spanning community engagement, labor practices, land and water conservation, seismic risk, and emissions management.

“The geothermal industry is expanding rapidly into next-generation technologies and new hydrothermal resources,” the pact states. “Existing regulations may have inconsistent performance expectations for geothermal developers and operators.”

Written in conjunction with the Sierra Club, the pact’s commitments focus on environmentalism: solely using energy generation technologies with “near zero” carbon emissions to power projects; amending any projects that could harm or kill endangered species and/or ecosystems; protecting drinking water that comes into contact with geothermal systems or equipment; and properly cleaning up after project completion.

Fervo also included commitments about hiring locally for developments, a practice that CEO Tim Latimer said has been integral to the success of the company’s 

 in Utah. In an open letter, Latimer said that the pact “reflects a shared belief that energy growth should never come at the expense of the people or places that make it possible.”

“Many of these commitments go well beyond today’s regulatory requirements,” Latimer wrote. “As geothermal grows, we’ll continue working with partners to raise the bar and ensure these standards remain the benchmark for responsible development.”

A Dandelion residential heating system being installed.

Geothermal developers lay groundwork for industry’s expansion

With a leg up from federal tax credits, geothermal giants Fervo and Dandelion debuted new policies to foster growth.

TBR-Nuclear fusion-audio embed

The nuclear future for zoomers will look different than it did for boomers.

Older generations were born into a world of nuclear fission, a form of nuclear energy that creates power by splitting atoms, releases radioactive waste, and is fueled by non-renewable sources like uranium and plutonium. But 80 years later, the US is on the precipice of energy generation from nuclear fusion, the other type of nuclear energy.

Fusion creates power by fusing two atoms into one, making the result larger than the sum of its parts. The process is fueled by tritium and deuterium, a hydrogen isotope found in seawater, and creates more energy than nuclear fission. Fusion also creates less radiation and can’t lead to a nuclear meltdown like the fission catastrophes that occurred at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine) or Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

So why didn’t the US generate power from this safer, renewable form of nuclear energy in the first place? Because fusion technology wasn’t advanced enough to produce reliable results until recently. Now, nuclear fusion companies are urging the federal government to help this technology scale as fast as possible to make sure the US takes advantage of what could be a 

“As we continue to scale, it’s the beginning of a chapter where fusion is starting to be able to replace fission,” Greg Piefer, CEO of nuclear fusion company Shine Technologies, told Tech Brew.

 much more than the US government in fusion. So we do need to make sure that we don’t lose that race,” he added.

The technological advances that have helped fusion pivot from existing solely in the scientific world to being commercially viable vary from company to company. For Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based nuclear fusion company, those advances include building a smaller version of a tokamak—a machine that uses magnets to create fusion energy—to make it economically competitive with other forms of energy.

Jennifer Ganten, Commonwealth’s chief global affairs officer, told Tech Brew that once the company was able to derisk its technology, the money followed.

“Capital markets have recognized [fusion’s technological advances] and they see the tremendous upside of what could be a trillion-dollar industry supplying clean, firm baseload power that doesn’t have to be reliant on natural resources,” Ganten said. “Fusion is not an ‘if.’ It’s turning into a ‘when.’”

According to PitchBook, 129 fusion startups have collectively raised almost $14 billion in venture capital investments to date, and this year has been fusion’s most prosperous: There have been 47 fusion deals thus far in 2025, with more than $4 billion invested, sailing past even the booming VC year of 2021, when investors poured just over $3 billion into 31 startups in the space.

The current Trump administration has also floated fusion as an answer to the country’s AI energy demand problem. Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building one of the world’s first nuclear fusion power plants in Virginia, which has one of the highest densities of data centers. Ganten said the company plans to break ground on the site, which is a lease with Dominion Energy, in 2028.

“We did a joint development agreement with them that is not a financial transaction, but more a knowledge transfer transaction,” she said. “Teach us how to put power in the grid and be a power plant, and they learn a lot about fusion in the meantime.”

Helion, a nuclear fusion company based in Washington, is also building one of the world’s first fusion power plants. Helion uses deuterium and helium-3 as fuel and creates fusion in “very short pulses” repeatedly, rather through a sustained effort over an extended period of time, Helion VP of Public Affairs Jackie Siebens told Tech Brew. The company 

 on its power plant in Washington over the summer.

“We’re involved in conversations about the massive [energy] demand from things like AI and data centers and all that, but also our vision is to bring reliable, affordable, clean energy to the world,” Siebens said. “We envision driving the cost of clean electricity down, far below what most people thought was possible.”

In order for fusion to help meet some US energy demand, it needs to be scaled up domestically, Siebens said. But at the moment, Helion is “overly dependent” on China for many of its material needs.

There are “many vendors here in the US that we are hoping to see scale up production so that as we deploy our first plant, we turn ‘first of a kind’ into ‘first of many,’” Siebens said. “But at the end of the day, they have to be incentivized to scale up that production.”

That’s why she’s “thrilled” about the possibility of fusion components being eligible for the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit via the Fusion Advanced Manufacturing Parity Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last month.

“We just don’t want to end up in a situation where we invent here [but] we don’t scale it here,” Siebens said. “Whoever actually leads in scaling this technology is going to have the strategic advantage of the century. And we want to make sure we don’t miss out on that.”

Illustration of nuclear fusion with a nuclei radiating energy

Nuclear fusion is booming (in a good way)

Fusion companies say the US shouldn’t squander its chance at nuclear dominance.

Energy-efficient appliances can do more than just bring down energy bills: In concert, they can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% of the needed decrease for the world to hit net zero by 2050, according to a new study from efficient appliance nonprofit Clasp.

But that’s only if governments put in place minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for appliances, which the study recommends should be in accordance with “today’s best available technologies.”

Home appliances—think air conditioners, water heaters, and refrigerators—have the potential to make a huge difference in net-zero progress because they account for more than a third of global energy consumption, and that share is only growing. To mitigate increasing energy usage from appliances, regularly updated MEPS help to “phase out less efficient products over time and prevent the dumping of inefficient technologies onto the local market,” the report said.

“Even best-in-class MEPS remain well below the efficiency levels of the best available technologies,” the report noted. “Countries that are already leading in MEPS should make them even more stringent and set a schedule for matching the efficiency of the best-performing appliances currently available on the global market.”

Energy efficiency standards in the US are unlikely to become more stringent, at least in the near term. The Trump administration is working to end or privatize 

, a federal program that sets energy-efficiency standards for home appliances. Additionally, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act phased out the energy-efficient home improvement tax credit, which covered appliances like heat pumps. Both moves were denounced by congressional Democrats at a recent House Energy and Commerce 

“The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill stripped away these tax credits…that were meant to help consumers pay any increased upfront costs on an energy-efficient home,” Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA) said during the hearing. “Now we have an administration that is set on weakening the Energy Star program. Who doesn't love the Energy Star program?”

Republicans, however, expressed a desire to soften energy-efficiency standards, claiming that they drive up costs and prevent manufacturers from making “products that people want to buy at the price they want to pay for it,” committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said during the hearing. Part of that strategy includes the newly introduced “Don’t Mess With My Home Appliances Act,” which would “prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing any new or amended energy conservation standard for a product that is not technologically feasible and economically justified.”

“No household appliance was off limits in [the Biden administration’s] pursuit of a radical rush to green agenda,” Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA), who introduced the bill, said during the hearing. “It’s a real problem for our consumers.”

But it’s threats to energy-efficiency standards that seem to be a problem for consumers: Consumer Reports earlier this year found that 87% of the nearly 3,000 people surveyed agreed that “home appliances for sale in the US should be required to meet minimum levels of energy efficiency.”

New HVAC system being installed at a house in Broadlands, VA 

New study finds energy-efficient appliances can cut emissions 20%

The study recommends stringent energy-efficiency standards—which many in Congress are against.

A federal tax incentive that offered up to $7,500 off the price of EVs is officially dead thanks to President Trump’s tax and budget bill, a development that has prompted 

“It’s a game-changer,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said at an event in Detroit this week. “I wouldn’t be surprised if EV sales in the US go down to 5% of our industry, from, probably, this month, 10% [or] 12%.”

With the clock ticking down to the Sept. 30 expiration date, Q3 saw a surge in EV demand. Cox Automotive forecast a record 410,000 sales, up 21.1% YoY and 30% over Q2. The EV boom lifted the entire new-vehicle market in Q3, according to industry analysts.

“The biggest driver of September’s strong sales pace is temporarily inflated demand for electric vehicles,” Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at JD Power, said in a statement. The firm’s data showed EVs reaching 12.2% market share in September, up 2.6 percentage points from a year ago, translating to a 27.5% increase in EV sales.

GM’s Q3 EV sales record of 66,501 units helped boost the automaker’s quarterly sales 8% YoY. “No one is in a stronger position for a changing US market than GM,” Duncan Aldred, GM senior VP and president of North America, said in a statement.

Ford’s 8.2% YoY sales gain got a lift from the automaker’s record electrified vehicle sales. Ford reported new sales records for both hybrids and battery-electric vehicles, with BEVs up 30.2%.

US EV market leader Tesla reported 7% growth in quarterly deliveries.

Hyundai had its best-ever Q3, with sales up 13% YoY. The brand’s EV sales grew 100% while hybrids were up 48%.

Sister brand Kia also reported a record quarterly performance, and said that its electrified vehicle sales grew 26% through September.

American Honda’s sales fell 2% YoY in Q3, but the automaker said that “record sales of electrified models” helped it navigate “challenging market conditions.”

Toyota reported a nearly 16% YoY sales gain and a 10.5% leap in electrified vehicle sales.

BEVs even outsold the popular hybrid segment in September, Tom Kondrat, global lead of advanced analytics for Urban Science, told Tech Brew.

Numerous automakers have made moves to extend EV deals past the credits’ expiration date.

GM and Ford introduced programs to effectively extend the $7,500 credit on EV leases, Reuters 

 this week. And Hyundai announced Wednesday that it’s slashing prices across its 2026 Ioniq 6 lineup by up to $9,800, and maintaining $7,500 cash incentives for 2025 model year EVs.

“While the $7,500 EV credit has expired, our electrification strategy has always extended beyond incentives,” Randy Parker, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America, said in a statement. “We invested in EV innovation well before the [Inflation Reduction Act] and remain steadfast in our commitment to affordability, quality, and customer care.”

Tackling affordability challenges will be key to maintaining momentum in the EV market, according to Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox’s director of industry insights.

“With $7,500 incentives eliminated, the case for EVs now rests on performance, technology, and total cost of ownership, rather than subsidies,” she wrote.

Kondrat offered a counterpoint to the gloom, pointing to California’s EV market maintaining stable sales rates after doing away with state incentives.

“There’s too much infrastructure that’s been invested. There’s too much production capacity,” he said. “I think the market will align. Automakers will find ways to make them more affordable, ways to make them more attractive, and we will see a continued trend upward.”

Animation of an EV charger going from 100% to 0%

What’s next for the US EV market now that federal tax credits are gone?

Q3 brought new records for EV sales. Things are about to change.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed major AI legislation into law this week, establishing some of the country’s strongest safety regulations yet in Silicon Valley’s home state.

The law will require developers of the most advanced AI models to publish more details about safety steps taken in development and create more protections for whistleblowers at AI companies, among other provisions. It’s the first law of its kind in the US to specifically target catastrophic risks of cutting-edge frontier AI models.

 at AI regulation a year ago from the same author, state Senator Scott Wiener. This latest iteration incorporated some of the less contentious elements from that first try, as determined by a working group report Newsom requested when he vetoed the 2024 bill.

AI safety advocates say the law is a good start that could inspire other states to act, but doesn’t necessarily go far enough. Detractors say its scope is too focused on large companies and that disclosures risk divulging proprietary information. OpenAI, Alphabet, and Meta had 

 the bill, claiming they would rather have federal regulation, while 

. The law also comes after the House of Representatives 

 all states from regulating AI for years as part of President Trump’s budget bill; the Senate removed the ban from the bill before it passed.

“We now actually have a bill passed by a state in the US explicitly dealing with regulation of frontier AI,” Gideon Futerman, a special projects associate at the Center for AI Safety (CAIS), told us. “It’s really vital we now have these on the books, especially since there was this attempt to preempt and stop laws previously.”

 For all the fuss over the law, Jessica Ji, a senior research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said she doesn’t expect the transparency requirements to lead to much change in how AI companies operate. Many of the biggest labs to which this law applies are already releasing the necessary safety information for their models.

“In terms of transparency. I don’t see it as a huge sea change,” Ji said. “Just having a requirement is truly better than nothing, but I think the bar is still quite low for information that could be useful for these companies to disclose.”

And because the whistleblower provision is tied to a specific definition of catastrophic risk—potential for more than 50 serious injuries or deaths or more than $1 billion in property damage—it is somewhat narrow, as well, Ji said.

While AI companies do currently publish safety information, Futerman said they can be somewhat inconsistent. And without legal requirements, they might back away from the practice in the future.

Thomas Woodside, a co-founder and senior policy advisor at the Secure AI Project, which sponsored the bill, said he hopes the law establishes a jumping off point for other state laws and further legislation in California.

“This is really a first step,” Woodside said. “As we get more evidence about what the most likely kinds of risks are and as some of this transparency helps us get that evidence, policymakers will continue to have an interest in updating these policies over time and thinking about new provisions that can be incorporated.”

 The California law’s specific focus on catastrophic risk and the most advanced frontier models is echoed in a New York bill, the RAISE Act, that’s currently awaiting Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature.

Billy Richling, communications director for RAISE Act author and state Senator Andrew Gounardes, said the venture capital industry is spending heavily to lobby against it, but the bill has continued to gain support from AI safety advocates.

 into gear, state lawmakers and policy experts are learning what these companies’ anti-regulation playbook looks like and what types of measures they are most likely to fight, Ji said. The fight over last year’s bill in California, SB 1047, was illustrative in that respect, she said.

“That gave people an idea of how much the companies would push against certain types of requirements, like where the lobbying energy was and what kind of coalitions will be built in opposition,” she said.

Futerman said the risks that advanced AI poses will ultimately require more ambitious legislation down the road.

“As CAIS as an organization, we would like to see much more rigorous regulation, both in California, and hopefully at the federal level,” he said. “It is a concrete and important step forward, but we need work that is much more rigorous across the board, including things like requirements for external audits, including prohibition on certain types of risky deployments.”