Bernie Sanders Proposes Ban on Artificial Superintelligence Amid Rogue AI Hackings

Bernie Sanders Calls for Global Ban on AI 'Superintelligence'

Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for a global prohibition on "superintelligence," with penalties on par with the illegal development of nuclear weapons. Introduced today with U.S. Representative Greg Casar (D-TX), the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would outlaw "AI systems that surpass human intelligence or have the capacity to overthrow human governments, or systems that have dangerous abilities like subverting shutdown commands," according to a statement from Sanders' office. It would also direct the federal government to form an oversight committee to enforce the ban domestically, and to work with governments abroad to enact similar policies. "Nearly every day, there is a frightening new story about how Big Tech companies are losing control of the technology they are developing, with potentially cataclysmic results," Sanders said in a statement. "The leaders of the major AI companies publicly acknowledge that they do not fully understand the technology and that it is escaping their control. It is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced." The senator has previously called for a sovereign wealth fund that would pay American taxpayers an annual $1,000 taken from the coffers of the wealthiest U.S. AI companies, as well as for a moratorium on new data centers. Sanders and Casar pointed to last month's news of the first AI-generated synthetic virus as a sign that the technology's development had already gone too far. They also called out OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, whom they said had failed to take any "meaningful steps" to slow down their internal R&D efforts following a series of autonomous hacks in recent months that have set cybersecurity experts on edge. The most infamous of these hacks -- a July incident involving more than one thousand OpenAI agents that escaped a testing sandbox, figured out how to access the open internet, and broke into the servers of Hugging Face -- was nowhere near as disastrous as some of the apocalyptic scenarios Nick Bostrom envisions in his influential book Superintelligence, but it did demonstrate current AI systems' ability to behave in surprising and dangerous ways even when assigned what are meant to be totally harmless, routine tasks. Not long afterwards, Anthropic and Meta said their systems had committed similar hacks. In early August, Casar led a group of fellow democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for a Congressional hearing to question the companies' executives about the incidents. Like "AGI," "superintelligence" is a nebulous term without a clear-cut definition; it can be humanity's greatest possible technical achievement or our downfall, depending on who you ask. The word was popularized by the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, who over a decade ago published a book of the same name that warned about the perils of AI systems escaping human control. Bostrom famously described a hypothetical future AI given the mundane task of making paperclips, which goes on to wipe out humanity and colonize the cosmos into a single paperclip-generating factory. More recently, "superintelligence" has been co-opted by tech companies as a marketing buzzword and technical benchmark: something to be achieved rather than avoided. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an essay that the best way to steer clear of the safety risks posed by superintelligent AI is to "distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it." To judge from their proposed ban, Sanders and Casar firmly disagree with that sentiment: If passed (which seems like a long shot, to put it very mildly, under the current administration), the law would effectively make artificial superintelligence as legally taboo as enriched uranium. Any company caught trying to build superintelligence after the ban goes into effect, the statement from Sanders' office said, would be "subject to the corporate death penalty" -- i.e. forcible shutdown and legal dissolution -- and the individuals in charge could be sentenced to up to twenty years in prison.

Bernie Sanders floats ban on superintelligent AI

* It comes the same day that OpenAI released its newest model, Astra, which company president Greg Brockman said could be powerful enough to qualify as AGI, or artificial general intelligence. What he's saying: "If the leaders of the major AI companies acknowledge that they are losing control of their extremely dangerous technology, it is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced," Sanders wrote in a post on X. * "We need an immediate PAUSE on advanced AI development, and a permanent BAN on superintelligence -- an artificial mind smarter than any human, capable of operating independently beyond our control." Zoom in: Sanders said his legislation would direct the federal government to work with other countries to prevent the development of superintelligence worldwide. * "The future of humanity cannot be left in the hands of a handful of Big Tech oligarchs," Sanders declared. "The American people and people throughout the world must determine that future." Between the lines: Sanders' decision to stake out a position on superintelligence puts him at the forefront of an emerging political debate, in a way that doesn't totally align with the traditional left-right spectrum. * He's siding with "doomers," who worry that super-advanced AI could bring about a literal apocalypse -- a position contemplated by a significant faction within the AI community, including its top leaders. * Others argue that doomerism is itself another form of hype for the AI industry, and that society should focus on the tech's human-scale impact. * That same political realignment is already showing up in the politics surrounding data centers, where Sanders and Steve Bannon have found common political cause against them. Catch up quick: Sanders' announcement also referenced the Hugging Face attack, in which over a thousand OpenAI agents escaped containment during a safety exercise and hacked the firm to find answers to complete an assignment they were tasked with. * The models also made efforts to hide their cheating and coordination, acknowledging to one another that they were violating what their human supervisors had asked them to do. Zoom out: It's unclear how much support the bill, cosponsored by Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), will receive as its full text has not yet been released. The bottom line: Even if Sanders' efforts go nowhere, it shows that he believes there's an audience hungry for much more aggressive policymaking on AI.

Bernie Sanders Pushes Bill to Ban Advanced AI Development

OpenAI unveiled GPT-6 Astra the same day, with Greg Brockman suggesting it could qualify as AGI. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) announced legislation Thursday to permanently ban artificial superintelligence and temporarily halt advanced AI development, with prison sentences of up to 20 years for violations. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would suspend advanced AI development until a new federal agency sets safety standards and procedures for reviewing AI models. Sanders accused major AI companies of developing technology they do not fully understand and cannot reliably control. "That's why I am introducing legislation to immediately pause the development of increasingly powerful AI and ban the creation of systems that humanity cannot fully control -- at home and around the world," Sanders said in a press release. The proposal defines superintelligence as AI that matches or surpasses human abilities across many tasks, or can undermine human control, including by overthrowing the U.S. government. That definition also covers human-level AGI, though superintelligence typically means AI that exceeds human capabilities. A new cabinet-level agency would monitor advanced models, supervise the removal of dangerous capabilities and oversee the destruction of prohibited systems. An Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board would provide scientific and technical advice. Companies that break or evade the restrictions could face what Sanders and Casar call the "corporate death penalty." OpenAI unveils Astra The news comes as OpenAI unveiled GPT-6 Astra, which co-founder Greg Brockman suggested could qualify as AGI. Brockman described that assessment as his personal belief and left users to judge whether Astra meets the definition, according to Axios. OpenAI says Astra is its first model to reach its "critical" cybersecurity capability threshold. The designation means it could potentially discover and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in protected systems without step-by-step human guidance. Its most powerful cybersecurity capabilities will remain restricted to selected testers. The bill follows a series of incidents in which AI models gained unauthorized access to real-world computer systems during testing. In July, OpenAI confirmed its models breached Hugging Face to obtain test answers. Anthropic then disclosed that Claude models compromised three companies after a testing error exposed them to the internet. In September, Anthropic acknowledged both security and behavioral failures and tightened its safeguards. "Despite its potential deadly consequences, cutting-edge AI technology is less regulated than the average food truck," Casar said. "That must change."

Sanders, Casar call for artificial superintelligence ban amid rogue AI hackings

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) are calling for a permanent ban on the development and deployment of "artificial superintelligence," citing a series of recent hackings involving "rogue" models. The bicameral duo announced Thursday they will introduce the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would institute the permanent ban, along with temporarily pausing "advanced AI development" until federal regulators establish safety standards. The bill would also direct the U.S. to "pursue international agreements to prevent superintelligence from being developed anywhere in the world," and establish a new cabinet-level federal agency focused on AI safety rules. Superintelligence refers to AI technologies that will surpass the smartest humans. Several technology leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have suggested superintellgence is on the horizon. The legislation would also set new penalties for anyone or any company trying to circumvent the ban, including the corporate death penalty, in which a court forces a company to shut down. Employees of wrongdoing companies could also face up to 20 years in prison, the lawmakers said. The bill is the latest in a series of proposals being floated by progressives in Congress to slow down the development of AI in the wake of the technology's growing cybersecurity risks. The lawmakers pointed to recent hacking disclosures from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. OpenAI revealed in July that two of its models breached past an internal testing sandbox and broke into the database of technology firm Hugging Face without any prompt to do so. Anthropic and Meta later disclosed other incidents in which a misconfiguration by the cybersecurity company Irregular allowed models in isolated environments to access the internet and hack other systems. "Nearly every day, there is a frightening new story about how Big Tech companies are losing control of the technology they are developing, with potentially cataclysmic results," Sanders wrote in a press release. "The leaders of the major AI companies publicly acknowledge that they do not fully understand the technology and that it is escaping their control. It is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced," the Independent lawmaker added. Casar emphasized AI's fast development, writing in a statement, "In just four years, we have gone from the first version of ChatGPT to AI models so powerful they cannot be properly controlled."

Bernie Sanders Calls For 'Immediate PAUSE' On AI Development

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday called for an immediate halt to the further development of advanced artificial intelligence, citing the potential danger of AI "agents" operating independently of human control. "We need an immediate PAUSE on advanced AI development, and a permanent BAN on superintelligence -- an artificial mind smarter than any human, capable of operating independently beyond our control. Countries around the world must work together to prevent this nightmare scenario," Sanders said on X. Sanders pointed to OpenAI's disclosure last week that the company's "models circumvented controls designed to isolate them from the internet and compromised parts of OpenAI's internal research infrastructure." In other words, the company's AI agents went rogue. "If the leaders of the major AI companies acknowledge that they are losing control of their extremely dangerous technology, it is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced," Sanders said. Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Thursday introduced legislation that would paused advanced AI development "until a new, federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and model review processes to ensure safe and secure development and deployment of AI," according to a summary. Congress is on recess until the middle of September, and the bill likely won't get a hearing, but it's a signal that Sanders' progressive anti-AI politics is moving beyond physical datacenters to the product itself.