Bernie Sanders Calls for Breaking Up OpenAI, Warns of AI's 'Meteor-Like' Impact on Society

"The Axios Show": Sanders says OpenAI should be broken up

Why it matters: OpenAI is making a bid for total tech supremacy with new products like its web browser and social media app, bringing it closer to the same antitrust territory that has haunted Microsoft and Google for decades. The big picture: Sanders is the first prominent Democrat to suggest that the government should intervene in OpenAI. * Given his popularity, the senator's thoughts on regulating AI companies could quickly become a 2028 litmus test for Democrats. What Sanders said: Asked if he thought OpenAI and ChatGPT should be broken up, he said, "I do." * "But it's a deeper issue than that," Sanders added. "We gotta be prepared to deal with it in all of its complexity." * He laid out a full serving of all of his AI worries, including loss of jobs, atrophied communication skills, problematic AI companions and superintelligent AI that supersedes human intelligence and can take over. * "This is not science fiction," he said. The other side: It would be unprecedented to split up such a young company for monopoly concerns, but the trend is moving in that direction. * AT&T was ordered to split after 99 years. Later, Microsoft faced antitrust probes at 15. Google at 12. OpenAI is 10. OpenAI's head of policy communications, Liz Bourgeois, told Axios that the company "is building in a field shaped for decades by a few large technology companies with deep resources and structural advantages. * "Our growth reflects something simple: people find what we're building useful. This is what healthy competition looks like in the U.S. -- offering better choices," she added. The bottom line: "This is an enormously transformational moment," Sanders said. "Do I think that the American people and Congress have begun to even discuss the implications of this? I don't."

Bernie Sanders Calls for Breakup of OpenAI

"We need to take a deep breath and understand it's like a meteor coming." Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is publicly calling on the government to break up ChatGPT maker OpenAI. When Axios asked him whether the Sam Altman-led company should be broken up, he responded with "I do." "We need to take a deep breath and understand it's like a meteor coming," he told the publication in an interview last week. "We've got to be prepared to deal with all of its complexity." To be clear, the idea is a serious long shot. While president Donald Trump ran on the promise of breaking up big tech, major companies spent millions on currying favor with him -- including donations for his latest White House ballroom project -- with varying levels of success. Trump has also embraced AI fullheartedly during his second term, proudly announcing a massive $500 billion AI infrastructure project, dubbed Stargate, soon after taking office. The initiative involves OpenAI, among other entities. Whether OpenAI is an anti-competitive monopoly in need of breaking up remains a point of contention. Plenty of alternatives to its AI models exist, including Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. In a statement to Axios, OpenAI's head of policy communications, Liz Bourgeois, argued that the company is "building in a field shaped for decades by a few large technology companies with deep resources and structural advantages." "Our growth reflects something simple: People find what we're building useful," she added. "This is what healthy competition looks like in the US -- offering better choices." Others have called for regulatory intervention following concerns of a growing AI bubble, which could leave the US economy in ruins in case it were to burst. "The first step to a healthier market is to break up companies that are vertically integrated, so that platforms don't compete with their customers," Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator director of AI and technology policy Asad Ramzanali wrote in a recent piece for TIME. Ramzanali pointed at AI chipmaker Nvidia's eyebrow-raising $100 billion investment in OpenAI, a "circular" deal that fueled fears over a looming AI bubble. "Chips must be independent from clouds, and clouds must be independent from AI models," he wrote. "Those models should compete on merit, not on whether they're tethered to a trillion-dollar sponsor." Besides calling for the breakup of OpenAI, Sanders argued during last week's interview that AI could have an "enormous transformational impact" while also potentially causing "massive" job losses. "I want to see small businesses develop," he added. "I want to see creativity out there in the economy. Ain't going to do any good for the younger people if the entry level jobs are taken over by AI." The senator also said he's concerned about "how we relate to each other as human beings," while taking direct aim at AI startup Friend, which made headlines for its controversial wearable that's designed to act as a companion. The company's New York subway ad campaign drew major backlash and ignited a heated discussion surrounding the role of AI in our daily lives. The news comes after Sanders shared a report earlier this month about the impact AI could have on jobs over the next decade. "AI and automation could destroy nearly 100 million US jobs in a decade," the report reads, noting that the "economic gains" in AI "have gone almost exclusively to those at the top." In response, Sanders called for a "robot tax" to be levied against large corporations to distribute to workers whose lives are upended by technological automation, a radical solution that will likely draw plenty of skepticism. For one, the vast majority of companies are currently struggling to generate revenue using AI. In short, Sanders is making no secret about his disdain for the AI industry's disregard for working-class people. In a separate interview with Vanity Fair last week, Bernie took aim at Trump's personal embrace of AI. "Trump is taking this country in a whole new direction," he said. "This is a guy who puts up an AI image of him in an airplane defecating on American cities -- not quite the image of the president of the United States that I was educated to respect when I was in the fourth grade," Sanders added, referring to a controversial AI-generated video Trump posted on social media, depicting him releasing feces on protesters.

Senator Bernie Sanders thinks OpenAI should be broken up, and worries about the onslaught of AI: 'It's like a meteor coming to this planet. We gotta be prepared to deal with it in all of its complexity'

AI represents many things to many people. To some, a way to tackle menial work. To others, a tool for usurping artists and laying off workers. To Nvidia, it represents a significant portion of its $5 trillion valuation. To Senator Bernie Sanders, a meteor metaphor. Say that three times fast. In a recent conversation with Axios (via Futurism), Sanders ponders the potential downsides of such a technology. He tells host Alex Thompson, "I worry... what the enormous transformational impact in our economy will be through AI and robotics." When questioned on whether he thinks OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, should be broken up, he says, "yeah, I do". He suggests it's deeper than just that, though and that AI in general is "like a meteor coming to this planet. We gotta be prepared to deal with it in all of its complexity." Just this week, OpenAI completed its restructure towards a for-profit entity, which the OpenAI website says "gives us the ability to keep pushing the frontier of AI, and an updated corporate structure to ensure progress serves everyone." It will be controlled by OpenAI's non-profit wing, though this allows it to shift goals as a company and seek extra funding. This is all to say, despite initially having the intent of being a non-profit, OpenAI's goalposts have shifted somewhat. OpenAI's market cap, at the time of writing, puts the company at an estimated $500 billion, which is one-tenth that of Nvidia. AI is a big business, with trillions of dollars relying on it. "The richest guys in this world are investing huge amounts of money into AI and robotics. And if you think that they give a damn about the needs of working-class people, you would be mistaken", says Sanders. The Vermont senator doesn't just gesture at the money involved in big businesses reliant on the future of AI; he also talks about the effects it can have on culture and community. Referencing the Friend AI necklace, he says, with a great deal of sarcasm, "You don't need to relate to a human being anymore, you'll have somebody hanging around your neck as your AI buddy, right? I worry about that. How we continue community, how we relate to each other as human beings." This is not the politician's first time being vocally critical of AI and its future. Back in July, he warned it would "displace millions and millions of workers" and that the least big businesses could do is implement a four-day work week to spread some of the efficiency gains onto those whose jobs may be at risk. Let's hope, if a meteor is on the way, it'll get us Fridays off, at least.

Sanders: Government should break up OpenAI

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he believes the government should break up OpenAI, underscoring his concerns about artificial intelligence's (AI) potential impact on the job market and interpersonal relationships. When asked by Axios' Alex Thompson whether the ChatGPT maker should be split up, he said, "I do, but it's a deeper issue than that. We need to take a deep breath and understand it's like a meteor coming. We've got to be prepared to deal with all of its complexity." In the interview released Friday, Sanders voiced concerns about the "enormous transformational impact" of AI on the economy and the potential for "massive" job loss. "I want to see us rebuilding manufacturing in America, but it ain't gonna do any worker any good if that manufacturing work is done by robots," he said. "I want to see small businesses develop. I want to see creativity out there in the economy. Ain't gonna do any good for the younger people if the entry level jobs are taken over by AI." "I'll tell you Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos and Mr. Ellison, the richest guys in this world, are investing huge amounts of money in AI and robotics," he continued. "And if you think they give a damn about the needs of working class people, you would be mistaken." Predictions about the impacts of AI on the labor market have varied widely, with some, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, suggesting it could wipe out a large portion of entry-level white-collar jobs in the next few years. However, experts have underscored that jobs data has yet to show the effects of AI. "In terms of what it does to us as human beings, there are products now being sold as 'You don't need to relate to a human being anymore. You will have somebody hanging around your neck as your AI buddy,'" Sanders added. "In a country where there's a lot of emotional distress, I really worry about that ... how we relate to each other as human beings." The Vermont senator's comments about an "AI buddy" appear to allude to products like Friend, a wearable AI companion whose advertising campaign in the New York subway has drawn scrutiny and sparked conversations about the future of AI. Sanders separately voiced concerns about superintelligent AI, technology that surpasses human intelligence. Several prominent figures, including AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, recently signed onto a statement calling for a ban on the development of superintelligence until there is "broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably." The Hill has reached out to OpenAI for comment.

Bernie Sanders Advocates OpenAI Breakup Citing 'Deeper Issue': 'We Gotta Be Prepared...' - Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expressed concerns about the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and called for the breakup of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI. AI's 'Transformational Moment' Speaking on "The Axios Show," Sanders said that the potential consequences of AI's rapid advancement are not being adequately addressed. When asked if he feels OpenAI and ChatGPT should be broken up, he replied, "I do." However, Sanders feels it is a "deeper issue." "We gotta be prepared to deal with it in all of its complexity," Sanders remarked. He highlighted the potential loss of jobs, diminished communication skills, and the rise of super-intelligent AI that could surpass human intelligence and take control. "This is not science fiction," Sanders said. "This is an enormously transformational moment." He also questioned whether the American people and Congress have begun to fully comprehend the implications of AI. See Also: Tim Cook Says US-Made Servers Will Power Apple Intelligence, Meeting $600 Billion Manufacturing Commitment Amid Trump's Build-At-Home Push Sanders Slams Bezos, Warns Of Job Threat These comments come in the wake of Sanders' recent criticism of Jeff Bezos for potentially replacing hundreds of thousands of jobs with robots at Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Sanders had warned that "Big Tech oligarchs are coming for your job." Earlier, a report from Sanders and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's minority staff had warned that AI and automation could potentially replace nearly 100 million U.S. jobs within the next decade, including roles in fast food, customer service, office administration, and even white-collar professions. In August, Sanders praised residents of St. Charles, Missouri, for defeating a proposed data center project that raised concerns over corporate greed and its potential impact on the local community. OpenAI's Expanding Ecosystem Sam Altman-led OpenAI has been at the forefront of AI development. Its ChatGPT model has been widely adopted across various industries. Earlier this month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) entered a multi-year deal with OpenAI, which could potentially challenge Nvidia Corp.'s (NASDAQ:NVDA) dominance in the AI sector. Additionally, Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a collaboration with ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI, to introduce AI-first shopping, allowing shoppers to buy directly through ChatGPT. OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser, led to a drop in Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares. READ NEXT: OpenID To Offer UK Data Residency From Friday: What It Means Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors AMDAdvanced Micro Devices Inc$241.092.60%OverviewAMZNAmazon.com Inc$220.38-0.32%GOOGAlphabet Inc$256.851.23%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$256.321.28%NVDANVIDIA Corp$183.200.57%WMTWalmart Inc$106.85-0.01%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs