AI alarm brings Bernie, Bannon together at D.C. summit
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Sanders on Sept. 15. Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Steve Bannon shared a stage Tuesday with progressives and AI safety advocates to demand more human control over the technology.
Why it matters: Alarm over AI is scrambling traditional political alliances and placing new pressure on Washington to act.
What they're saying: "Let's be clear: Regulating AI is not a progressive issue. It is not a conservative issue. It is as American as apple pie," Sanders said Tuesday at the "Pro-Human Assembly."
- Sanders said Congress has been "asleep at the wheel" under both parties and called President Trump's "ignorance" on AI "truly embarrassing."
- He called on Trump to negotiate a treaty with Chinese President Xi Jinping to pause development of advanced AI.
- Sanders also challenged AI CEOs to stop pouring money into super PACs aimed at candidates "who are fighting for serious guardrails on AI."
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, who took the stage after Sanders, also pressed for tougher AI restrictions, but took a starkly different approach to China.
- Bannon called for the U.S. to "quarantine every aspect of the ecosystem of artificial intelligence away from the Chinese Communist Party today" before turning to domestic AI regulation.
- But he echoed Sanders' criticism of the tech industry's power: "The American citizens are not gonna be supplicants to the oligarchs anymore. We can't do it. We've seen where that's led us so far," Bannon said.
Zoom out: The event also showcased the limits of the new political convergence around AI. Speakers largely agreed on the need for stronger safeguards, but not necessarily on what those should look like.
- Sanders is calling for an AI treaty with Beijing. Bannon is pushing to cut China off from U.S. tech: "No chips, no black marketed chips, no free ride off American technology. No stealing of American technology."
Context: The Future of Life Institute — the nonprofit advocacy group behind "The Pro-Human AI Declaration," which calls for protecting human agency, avoiding concentrations of power and holding companies accountable — organized Tuesday's event.
What we're watching: Sanders said next week he'll introduce his bill with Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) to ban the development of artificial superintelligence.
- Casar said he believes "we are closer than ever to breaking the dam on serious AI protections."
