Bernie Sanders Urges International Cooperation to Halt AI's 'Runaway Train'
US Senator Bernie Sanders emphasized the importance of international cooperation in regulating artificial intelligence during a Wednesday panel on Capitol Hill, which featured two leading Chinese scientists. As tech giants and startups in Silicon Valley and Beijing race to advance AI, Sanders has been a prominent advocate for safeguards.
During the discussion, Sanders raised concerns about the potential implications of widespread AI use, including misinformation, loss of data privacy, and social isolation among adolescents dependent on chatbots. He also voiced alarm about existential risks automation poses to American society, such as a surge in unemployment if companies favor automated labor over human workers.
The researchers on the panel presented the possibility of super-intelligent systems operating outside the bounds of their designers' instructions. Sanders warned, "The richest, most powerful people in the world are now building a runaway train with no brakes. They acknowledge that they don't understand how it works, and they don't know where it's headed." He suggested a doomsday future if safety measures are not implemented and called for an international treaty similar to Cold War-era nuclear pacts.
The optics of the event with Chinese academics—Xue Lan of Tsinghua University and Zeng Yi of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance—drew backlash from some conservatives. Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, wrote on X, "Senator Sanders' concerns about AI are overstated, but I respect them. We should be asking questions about child safety, community impact, and economic displacement. What we shouldn't do is partner with foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party in those discussions."
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touted an America-first agenda, stating, "The United States is home to the most talented AI researchers in the world. The real threat to AI safety is letting any nation other than the United States set the global standard."
Addressing the geopolitical situation, Lan said, "It is unimaginable to think of a world that only few countries and few companies have the most powerful tool but the rest of the world is impoverished with nothing." He added, "The US and China would have common interest to work together to bridge the AI divide."
Sanders has previously raised alarm about AI proliferation. In March, he and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced a bill that would halt new construction of AI datacenters. Sanders said, "AI and robotics are creating the most sweeping technological revolution in the history of humanity. The scale, scope and speed of that change is unprecedented. Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts."
