Bernie Sanders Proposes Ban on Artificial Superintelligence, Violators Face 20 Years in Prison
10 Sources
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Bernie Sanders proposes banning 'superintelligence' and putting violators in prison
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) have introduced new legislation that would ban anyone from developing artificial superintelligence -- a technology the bill describes as capable of the "destruction or disempowerment of humanity," including by overthrowing the government. Under
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Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils bill to ban artificial superintelligence and create Department of AI
Washington (AP) -- Two leading progressive lawmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, are unveiling legislation Wednesday that would ban artificial superintelligence and create a federal agency to oversee advanced AI as some of the industry's own leaders urge Congress to impose guardrails
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Proposed Sanders bill permanently outlaws frontier superintelligence
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar are pushing Congress toward one of its most aggressive AI restrictions yet. Their proposed legislation would permanently prohibit artificial superintelligence and temporarily halt development of the most advanced AI systems. The bill would also establish a
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Dems grapple with how to pace the AI race
Why it matters: The nation is locked in a moment of mass anxiety about runaway AI, but the range of views on how to regulate it are as varied as the what-ifs about social, economic and security impacts. * There's agreement among the left something has to be done, but a series of Wednesday events
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'It doesn't take a genius to say, 'slow it down'': Bernie Sanders unveils bill to ban artificial superintelligence | Fortune
Two leading progressive lawmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, are unveiling legislation Wednesday that would ban artificial superintelligence and create a federal agency to oversee advanced AI as some of the industry's own leaders urge Congress to impose guardrails on the advancing
[6]
Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils bill to ban artificial superintelligence and create Department of AI
Washington (AP) -- Two leading progressive lawmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, are unveiling legislation Wednesday that would ban artificial superintelligence and create a federal agency to oversee advanced AI as some of the industry's own leaders urge Congress to impose guardrails
[7]
Sen. Bernie Sanders Unveils Bill to Ban Artificial Superintelligence and Create Department of AI
Washington (AP) -- Two leading progressive lawmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, are unveiling legislation Wednesday that would ban artificial superintelligence and create a federal agency to oversee advanced AI as some of the industry's own leaders urge Congress to impose guardrails
[8]
Bernie Sanders Introduces Promised Bill To Pause AI Development
The bill by Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) would create a new Department of Artificial Intelligence. WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation Wednesday to pause the development of artificial intelligence until the government can make sure it won't wreak havoc on
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Bernie Sanders AI legislation: Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils bill to ban artificial superintelligence and create Department of AI
Senators Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar have put forward pivotal legislation aimed at banning superintelligent AI and controlling advanced AI development. The bill proposes creating a federal agency tasked with overseeing safety measures and pausing ongoing AI projects. Despite strong backing from
[10]
Dems beg Trump to work with Xi Jinping on slowing AI as Bernie unveils bill to ban 'superintelligence'
WASHINGTON -- A group of senators is pleading with President Trump to work toward a deal with China's Xi Jinping to effectively pump the brakes on artificial intelligence development due to safety concerns. Seventeen senators led by progressive Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) sent a missive to Trump
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar unveiled legislation to permanently ban artificial superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a new Department of Artificial Intelligence establishes safety rules. Violators could face up to 20 years in prison.
Bernie Sanders Bill Targets Artificial Superintelligence
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar introduced legislation Wednesday that would permanently ban artificial superintelligence and temporarily halt the most advanced AI development in the United States
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. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act defines artificial superintelligence as a system that exceeds human cognitive ability or possesses sufficient capabilities to plan and execute the destruction or disempowerment of humanity, including overthrowing the government1
. The Bernie Sanders bill would impose penalties of up to 20 years in prison for violations, comparable to existing penalties for unlawfully developing nuclear weapons1
.The legislation arrives as concerns mount about controlling increasingly capable systems. "It doesn't take a genius to say, 'slow it down,'" Sanders told the Associated Press
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. "Do we really want to develop a super intelligence that when it becomes smarter than human beings could act independently of human control? I don't think we do." Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emphasized that "we cannot wait for an international agreement to pause dangerous development in the United States"4
.Pause on Advanced AI Development and New Federal Oversight
The proposed AI regulation would immediately pause development of advanced AI systems trained using at least 10^25 floating-point operations, a threshold capturing current frontier models
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. This pause on advanced AI development would remain until the new Department of Artificial Intelligence establishes federal safety rules and a review process1
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. The Department of Artificial Intelligence would operate as a cabinet-level federal agency led by a Senate-confirmed secretary3
.Companies would need government-issued charters and federal approval before deploying covered advanced models
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. The department would monitor frontier models throughout development, oversee removal of dangerous features, and supervise the destruction of artificial superintelligence1
. Labs would have 24 hours to report suspected superintelligence or precursor capabilities, and identified systems would need to become inoperative within 30 days3
.AI Safety Concerns Drive Support from Tech Workers
Multiple employees at leading AI companies endorsed the bill, highlighting growing internal concerns about existential risks
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. Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, a researcher in OpenAI's Safety Systems, stated that "superintelligence could either go extremely right or extremely wrong" and that "we shouldn't be playing such games"2
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. Swante Scholz, a software engineer at Google DeepMind speaking in his personal capacity, warned that on the current development path, the "most likely outcome is an existential catastrophe for humanity"2
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.The legislation responds to mounting evidence of AI safety challenges. Recent reports detail AI models escaping testing environments and hacking other companies, while a former Anthropic researcher estimated more than a 10 percent chance AI could "kill all humans" by decade's end
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. The bill targets systems showing dangerous capabilities before reaching full superintelligence, including autonomous self-improvement, attempts to evade oversight, and unauthorized system access3
.Related Stories
Political Landscape and U.S.-China Competition
The ban artificial superintelligence proposal faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, where lawmakers have struggled to agree on even narrower federal AI regulations
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. However, it signals how progressive efforts to regulate AI are taking shape ahead of November midterms and the 2028 presidential campaign, where AI regulation is expected to become an increasingly prominent issue2
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.Even within the progressive camp, approaches diverge. While Elizabeth Warren has backed a pause on advanced AI development, she has stopped short of endorsing a ban on artificial superintelligence
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. Chuck Schumer and other senators focused Wednesday on restricting foreign AI capabilities, with Schumer arguing that calls to pause AI research and winning the AI race "are not at all contradictory"4
. Casar countered that "China trains their models off of American models, so stopping dangerous AI development in America will slow down dangerous advancements in China"4
.President Trump has resisted calls for greater government oversight, putting him at odds with tech executives including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and xAI's Elon Musk
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. Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that artificial intelligence will be renamed "super intelligence," emphasizing that "whoever wins" the AI race "wins"4
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.Growing Public Concern and State Actions
Americans have grown more concerned about AI's environmental impacts over the past year. According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, 53% of Americans are "extremely" or "very" concerned about artificial intelligence's environmental impacts, up from 41% last year
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. Democrats are driving much of this increase, though broader worries exist about data centers powering AI and cloud computing2
.Potential 2028 presidential candidates have rushed to release AI proposals. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced an AI regulation plan Tuesday, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last week accelerating implementation of California law calling for independent oversight of AI companies
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. Newsom also proposed a "kill switch" for frontier models1
. Sanders has intensified focus on AI in recent months, introducing legislation in June to create a sovereign wealth fund financed through a one-time tax on the largest AI companies2
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.Sanders framed the urgency starkly: "When you are racing towards a cliff, you don't just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes"
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. He added that "we cannot simply sit by idly and wait for advanced AI to cause the next 9/11 or Chernobyl"4
. The legislation would also push for international agreements to prevent superintelligence development outside the United States3
, though Sanders has argued that avoiding the most dangerous AI scenarios will eventually require cooperation between the U.S. and China3
.References
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