Kenya N. Wiley on what might come next for fashion and AI as the Democrats take charge on Capitol Hill.

Democratic control of Congress next year sends a clear message to AI and Big Tech: We’re coming for you.

The blue wave of congressional investigations may sweep up not only AI’s impact on fashion, but brands and retailers directly. When Democrats take over the Senate in January, they will have the largest majority in more than a decade — a margin not seen since the height of the Levin era of corporate investigations, when the late Sen. ) chaired the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Back then, PSI focused on Wall Street, putting Goldman Sachs in the spotlight with a 10-hour hearing and more than a thousand references in the subcommittee’s 639-page bipartisan report. The entire investigation, launched in response to the 2008 financial crisis, lasted about two years — the length of a full Congress. AI and Big Tech have joined Wall Street as targets in the return to old-school oversight. Take, for example, the role of AI at Amazon, the second-largest retailer by sales and a regular sponsor of red carpet fashion . In September, Sens. ) asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Amazon and Walmart suppressed Made in USA products for customers using the companies’ AI chatbots. Today, 42 percent of consumers use AI tools when shopping for fashion, according to the recent WWD x BCG Future of Fashion report — exposing brands and retailers to consumer protection scrutiny over which products shoppers see, and how products are labeled and reviewed.

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