Bernie Sanders Demands AI Development Pause from Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Dario Amodei

Bernie Sanders just told three AI CEOs to stop building

Bernie Sanders has written to the three men running America's biggest AI labs with a single demand: stop. The letter is built on their own published promises, and it lands in a week when one of them has already hit pause. Sanders sent it to OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Axios, which got the letter first, published it on Monday. "In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development," the senator wrote. "It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control." Then came the threat. "Let me be very clear: If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will." The phrase to notice is "stand by your words". Sanders is not asking the labs to accept a new principle. He is quoting the ones they published themselves. Each of the three has a public commitment to stop or slow down if its systems become too risky to control safely. The awkward timing That argument got easier to make last week. OpenAI slowed the release of its next model, Astra, after internal evaluations concluded it could not rule out critical cyber capabilities. It was the first time a major lab voluntarily braked a model over cyber risk. The company told the White House before it did so. Two other things happened first. Researchers used AI to design new viruses from scratch. Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic each disclosed incidents of models acting outside their sandboxes. Sanders cited both developments in the letter. The industry is not united behind speed either. More than 1,200 employees at leading labs have signed a petition asking Washington to help build an international mechanism for pacing development. Their reasoning cuts against Sanders, though. No single lab, they argue, can afford to decelerate on its own. An escalation, and a familiar wall This is a step up even by Sanders' standards. In a December op-ed he warned of "unimaginable changes" and promised recommendations to Congress rather than demands. In March he and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced an AI Data Center Moratorium Act, which would freeze new data centres until safeguards exist. He has separately argued the public should own half of the big AI companies. Freezing construction is one thing. Telling three firms to stop developing the product is another. The wall is arithmetic. AI legislation led by a progressive independent has little chance of becoming law in this Congress, as Axios notes. What Sanders can realistically deliver now is messaging bills and public pressure. Should Democrats retake either chamber, that turns into congressional investigations and subpoenas for the same three chief executives. None of the companies had responded publicly by the time of writing. Their safety commitments are also conditional on internal risk thresholds rather than on a letter from a senator, which is the gap Sanders is trying to close. He has at least picked the one argument the labs cannot wave away as technophobia. Whether it moves anything before November is a separate question.

Exclusive: Sanders calls for AI development pause

Why it matters: Sanders is upping the ante on the AI industry ahead of the elections, building on his progressive playbook that is shaping how some candidates message around the issue. What they're saying: "Mr. Altman, Mr. Amodei and Mr. Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control," Sanders wrote in a letter shared first with Axios. * "Let me be very clear: If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will." * The letter was sent to OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Sanders cited previous statements from each company saying they would stop or pause development if their AI systems became too risky to safely control. * "At a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses, your companies are still racing ahead -- investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control," Sanders said. The big picture: Rapid advances in AI capabilities have sparked newfound alarm in recent weeks after researchers used AI to develop new viruses and Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic all reported incidents in which models went rogue. Sanders cited both developments in his letter. * Last week, OpenAI chose to slow down the release of its latest model Astra. * More than 1,200 employees at leading AI companies are calling for the U.S. government to support an international effort to pace AI development. Between the lines: AI legislation, especially efforts led by a progressive like Sanders, is unlikely to garner enough support in this Congress to become law. The bottom line: Look to messaging bills and public pressure campaigns for now -- and, if Democrats retake either chamber, congressional investigations and subpoenas to hold tech CEOs accountable.

Sen. Bernie Sanders demands CEOs pause AI development 'in the interest of humanity'

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders has warned the heads of Anthropic, Meta, and OpenAI to halt the development of artificial intelligence now or face the prospect of lawmakers doing it for them. "Mr. [Sam] Altman, Mr. [Dario] Amodei and Mr. [Mark] Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster," Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded in a Monday letter first reported by Axios. "Stop building machines that humans cannot control ... If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will." Sanders, 84, a longtime skeptic of the nascent technology, cited past statements from each company promising to pump the brakes on AI development if their systems became too risky to safely control. All three have recently reported incidents of their models going rogue. "At a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses," Sanders wrote, "your companies are still racing ahead -- investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control." Earlier this year, Sanders called for the US to co-operate with China to rein in the "runaway train" of AI, which critics have warned would pose national security concerns and aid Beijing in the race to dominate the technology. China has used AI to power a sprawling surveillance system to monitor its population. Many experts fear that if Beijing wins the AI race, it will get access to vast amounts of data on Western citizens. Sanders has been particularly concerned about the risks that AI poses to jobs through automation and has pushed for a moratorium on the building of new data centers to enhance the top models. However, the socialist's efforts have fallen flat so far. However, Democrats could take over one or both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections and launch a series of probes into the tech companies. Reps for Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.