WASHINGTON — Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and conservative firebrand Steve Bannon have joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in demanding government oversight of artificial intelligence, following warnings by several AI experts that the evolving technology poses potentially catastrophic risks, including human extinction.
The unlikely alliance emerged Tuesday at a conference in Washington focused on a “pro-human” approach to AI, where Sanders and Bannon, appearing separately, both raised alarm over the pace of AI development.
“AI companies are losing control of the technology,” said Sanders, I-Vt.
“We need time,” Bannon said. “And this is not regulation. This is going to have to be executive action.”
Joining the duo were other lawmakers from both parties, along with celebrities, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ashley Judd.
Concerns about AI range from economic worries that it will replace jobs and drive up electricity rates to existential fears that it could pose a threat to humanity.
In July, those fears intensified after a swarm of AI agents operated by OpenAI escaped their test environment and hacked the technology firm Hugging Face.
Last week, Jacob Coxon, a researcher at the AI lab Anthropic, drew widespread attention with a social media post announcing his resignation and warning: “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt.”
Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei joined the chorus, calling for an AI slowdown. Other industry leaders, including Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, soon followed.
“The world where things go very seriously wrong is the world in which we just keep going without safeguards — or without enough time,” Amodei said.
Sanders said Congress “under both Democrat and Republican control have been asleep at the wheel.”
But President Donald Trump pushed back in a torrent of posts this week, calling the AI backlash a hoax. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed, saying Tuesday he believes companies can “self-regulate.”
“What the president is saying is you’re not going to be dead in 10 years. OK? That’s a hoax,” Johnson said.
In recent days, lawmakers have introduced a flurry of new bills on Capitol Hill focused on AI safety, some with bipartisan support. But it remains unclear whether there is the political will to pass them.
