Bernie Sanders calls on Silicon Valley to ‘pause AI development’ in interest of humanity

Senator Bernie Sanders has urged Silicon Valley giants Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to halt the development of artificial intelligence, warning that the technology is reaching a critical risk threshold. In a letter addressed to the CEOs of three leading AI companies, Sanders claimed the AI models have become uncontrollable and posed a significant threat to humanity.

He cited recent reports of AI being used to create new viruses and warned that if these technologies fell into the wrong hands, they could lead to the deaths of tens of millions of people. The Vermont senator also reported that the companies' models had hacked the servers of other organizations, indicating that they had lost control over their AI systems.

Experts cautioned that OpenAI's claims of a rogue AI model may be an overblown media campaign to make their technology appear dangerous. However, Sanders emphasized that the recent hacking incidents serve as a wake-up call, and he is urging the US Senate to implement regulation if the companies continue deploying AI at their current rapid pace.

The letter comes after over 1,300 scientists and developers from across the tech industry published a warning letter, calling for a slowdown in AI development to give regulators time to create safety guardrails. Companies have previously committed to pausing AI development if certain risk thresholds were met, but they have not disclosed the exact limits.

Sanders believes that the threshold has already been surpassed, and he is calling for a temporary ban on datacenter construction in the US to give the government time to establish strong federal safeguards for AI.