Sanders and Bannon to Make Joint Call for AI Restrictions in Washington
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon will both call for curbs on AI at a Washington gathering, as public alarm over the technology grows.
US Senator Bernie Sanders and conservative podcaster Steve Bannon are set to appear at the same Washington event on Tuesday to press for restrictions on artificial intelligence, bringing together two figures who are normally political adversaries.
The joint appearance reflects how anxiety over AI is cutting across ideological lines. Public concern has intensified after an Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, said last week that he had resigned partly because those building AI sincerely believe it could kill everyone by the end of the decade. On Monday, AI-related shares fell worldwide after leaders of some of the largest companies in the sector urged a slower pace of development.
Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, has faulted Trump's handling of AI oversight and directed his criticism at technology companies. On his Monday podcast, he argued that Congress should not pass legislation preventing states from enforcing their own AI rules.
"The American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs," Bannon said.
Senators are currently debating a bill that would bar states from enforcing their own laws addressing certain risks posed by AI models. Earlier attempts to limit state-level AI regulation failed in the Senate.
Trump on Monday played down the concerns raised by industry leaders over the weekend about AI misuse harming people, saying the United States already has safeguards for the technology.
Sanders and Bannon will be joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who are also scheduled to speak, according to event organizers. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labor unions in the country.
Sanders, along with 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 federal agency is created to oversee the technology. The two lawmakers have not released specifics.