Sanders and Bannon to Press for AI Limits at Washington Event
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon will both call for restrictions on AI systems at a Washington gathering, as surveys show widespread public concern.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, are set to speak at the same Washington event on Tuesday, each calling for restrictions on artificial intelligence systems. The pairing brings together two figures from opposite ends of US politics around a shared concern that the technology could harm people.
The event comes as unease over AI extends beyond Washington and Silicon Valley. Recent surveys indicate that majorities of Americans worry the technology could eliminate jobs, raise costs for families or cause other social harm. A poll published in June found that 77% of Americans are concerned that AI-driven data centers will push up electricity costs. Residents in several states have also pushed back against proposals for new data centers, which are a critical component of the AI boom.
Bannon has criticized Trump's approach to overseeing AI, attributing the president's reluctance to regulate the technology to the influence of tech companies. On his Monday podcast, he said Congress should not pass laws that prevent states from enforcing their own rules for the technology. "The American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs," he said.
Senators are currently debating a bill that would block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models. Earlier attempts to restrict state AI laws failed in the Senate.
Trump on Monday played down concerns raised by industry leaders over the weekend about the misuse of artificial intelligence harming people, saying the US already has guardrails in place for the powerful technology.
Sanders, alongside House progressive Representative Greg Casar, has called for legislation halting the development of AI tools capable of "overthrowing or undermining the U.S. government" until a new agency is created to police the technology. The two lawmakers have not released specifics.
Also slated to speak at Tuesday's gathering are AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, according to event organizers. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labor unions in the US.
The attention on AI's risks has been amplified by public comments from industry insiders. Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon drew notice last week when he said he had resigned from the company, in part because the "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."