US Lawmakers and Strategists Form Bipartisan Front Over AI Risks
U.S. lawmakers from across the political spectrum, including Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, united in Washington to warn against the existential threats of artificial intelligence.
An unusual political alliance has formed in Washington, uniting progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans over the existential risks posed by artificial intelligence. According to CNBC, Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Greg Casar, Republican Representative Chip Roy, and former White House strategist Steve Bannon spoke at the "Assembly for Humanity" event in Washington, D.C., organized by the Future of Life Institute.
Bipartisan Concerns Over AI Risks
"Our jobs, our freedom, and our security are all at risk. It is hard to think of an issue that touches so fundamentally on so many aspects of our lives," Representative Casar stated during the event. The gathering took place shortly after Jacob Hilton, a researcher at AI giant Anthropic, resigned and warned that artificial intelligence companies are "gambling with our lives." In response, industry leaders including Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk have previously faced calls to moderate the pace of advanced model development.
"We are at a historic turning point. We can never trust what oligarchs say, because they are not honest, and they are not telling the truth. We are not going to beg them," Steve Bannon declared.
Legislative Proposals and International Treaties
While U.S. President Donald Trump has largely dismissed these warnings and recently criticized opposition to building new data centers, pressure from various political factions continues to grow. Senator Sanders expressed hope that President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would negotiate a treaty to freeze AI development during their upcoming summit next week. Sanders emphasized that superintelligent AI escaping human control would pose a threat to all of humanity rather than any single nation. Earlier this month, Sanders and Casar introduced legislation aimed at banning artificial intelligence at the superintelligence level and temporarily freezing the development of advanced AI models.
