Sanders and Bannon converge on Washington AI safeguards

US Senator Bernie Sanders and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are set to attend a Washington event on Tuesday, co-hosted by the Future of Life Institute. This assembly brings together labor, religious, and political figures who are advocating for tighter controls over advanced artificial intelligence. The Pro-Human Assembly aims to ensure humans retain control over capable AI systems and hold developers accountable for any resulting harm.

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and Bannon, a conservative broadcaster, represent divergent political ideologies. Their joint appearance highlights how concerns over AI are uniting people across the political spectrum. Other notable participants include Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Democratic Representative Greg Casar, and Republican Representative Chip Roy.

Labour representatives include AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, and SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. The event is centered on the Pro-Human AI Declaration, a set of principles emphasizing human control over AI, limitations on technological power concentration, children's protection, privacy rights, independent safety standards, and legal accountability for AI developers.

The declaration opposes granting AI legal personhood and supports mechanisms for human shutdown of powerful systems. Sanders and Casar recently introduced legislation to prohibit the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence, while Bannon has criticized the Trump administration's AI oversight efforts. The gathering responds to growing unease fueled by misuse and unexpected behavior from advanced AI systems, such as Anthropic's disruption of accounts used for biological weapons development and missile programs.