Bernie Sanders and labor unions demand AI worker protections as $156 billion in data centers blocked

'Go to hell': Bernie Sanders unites labor leaders in huge push for AI protections and a halt to data center construction - growing national anti-data center sentiment results in protests, bans, and project cancellations

* Senator Bernie Sanders has told US oligarchs to 'Go to hell' * He joined labor leaders in calling for greater worker protection from AI * Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have called for a pause on AI development Senator Bernie Sanders has told oligarchs to "Go to hell" during a rally, where he united with labor leaders to call on congress for more stringent protections on AI. "AI and robotics are the most consequential and transformational technologies in the history of humanity," Sanders said. "What it means is in 10 years, the idea of a manufacturing job will no longer exist," Sanders continued, referring to Jeff Bezos' plans to purchase and automate factories across the United States. AI will cause 'sweeping changes' In a statement accompanying a video shared online, Sanders said, "The same oligarchs who shipped jobs overseas now want to replace tens of millions of American workers with AI. Our message to them is: Go to hell." The video saw Sanders target Tesla, specifically Elon Musk's plans to convert the company to focus on robotics with the plan to build 100 million robots per year. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was also in Sanders' crosshairs for his prediction that most white collar work will be fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months. "We are looking at sweeping changes to blue collar workers, sweeping changes to white collar workers," Sanders said. "You know who is pushing these technologies? The richest people on earth: Mr. Musk, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Ellison, and others." he added. "What they want to do is replace human workers." New entrants to the job market, especially graduates, are finding it increasingly difficult to find employment as AI tackles the tasks that most new starters would handle upon entering white collar industries. Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently said in an interview, "If you are the kind of person that would've gone to Yale, classically high IQ, and you have generalized knowledge but it's not specific, you're effed." Growing opposition to data centers The fear that AI threatens jobs isn't a view held solely by Sanders and labor unions. Numerous polls and surveys have found that the American public is concerned about AI, especially the construction of new data centers upon which AI models rely. For example, a Checkr survey found 79% of US workers are worried that adopting AI will result in pay cuts, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 71% fear AI will be "putting too many people out of work permanently," and an NBC News poll found that almost half (46%) of registered US voters have a negative view of AI. The sentiment isn't confined to polls. Voter support for new data centers in Virginia has dropped from 69% in 2023 to 35% in 2026, with plans for one of the largest data centers ever conceived being abandoned. Half of a Missouri city council lost reelection bids after approving a $6 billion data center, and Maine has become the first US state to pass a ban on the construction of new data centers. Data Center Watch, a website run by 10a Labs that tracks opposition to data centers, has recorded that $156 billion in data center projects have been blocked in 2025, with opposition to new and existing projects growing on a national scale. In March, Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez submitted legislation to enact a pause on AI development to safeguard workers, energy prices, and the health and wellbeing of the American public. "We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity," Sanders said following the announcement of the legislation. "We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue. The time for action is now. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centers." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Unions bash AI as opposition grows: "We believe in human beings"

Why it matters: The contours of the emerging AI economy are still shapable -- and the labor movement is eager to influence what it looks like. Friction point: Leaders of many of the country's biggest unions gathered Thursday alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to blast "AI oligarchs" and call for an equitable rollout that puts workers in the driver's seat. * "The richest people on Earth -- Mr. Musk, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Ellison and others -- what they want to do is replace human workers," Sanders said at a press conference. "Some of us are old-fashioned, and we believe in human beings." "We are here to sound the alarms on AI," said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO. "This race that everybody seems to think we're in to advance AI at all costs -- with no guardrails or protections for people -- is reckless and dangerous." * "Human beings have to come first in this equation, not an afterthought," UAW president Shawn Fain said, arguing that "a handful of billionaires want all the profits" but the "working class has to get our fair share." The big picture: Calls to oppose AI and robotics have been growing in labor circles. * It's particularly acute with robotaxis, which could replace trucking jobs and other professional drivers. * Teamsters president Sean O'Brien -- a past Sanders supporter who has recently grown closer to President Trump -- has called for the federal government to require a safety driver in robotaxis. * "We need the Congress, we need this administration to actually put people first, to make sure that the human being is in charge of society -- not a robot and not a chatbot," American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said Thursday. The intrigue: A sense of AI's inevitability is still evident in the pro-labor rhetoric. * While bashing self-driving car developers like Musk, Sanders acknowledged where the technology seems to be heading: "What experts tell us, if there is not a counter reaction, it is very likely that millions and millions of truck drivers, bus drivers, taxi cab drivers will lose their jobs within the next decade," he said. * And there may be some common ground between AI leaders and worker advocates. The UAW's Fain noted that he has been pressing for a 32-hour work week -- something that certain AI advocates have suggested could become a reality. Yes, but: Sanders is bringing together labor leaders to pressure Congress to place a moratorium on AI data centers while policymakers can assess their impact. * "How the hell do you go forward and throw millions of people out on the street without planning what's going to happen?" Sanders said Thursday. The bottom line: The fight over AI is just beginning.

Bernie Sanders, labor leaders warn of AI risks for workers

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the leaders of several major labor unions warned Thursday about the risks AI poses to workers amid concerns about the technology's ability to replace jobs. Sanders, who is pushing for a moratorium on data center construction, argued that AI could displace both blue-collar and white-collar workers. "How the hell do you go forward and throw millions of people out on the street without planning what's going to happen?" the senator said at a press conference. "Where do we want to go with the mission?" he continued. "Does AI and robotics have some positive things? Yeah. How do we use it to improve human life and not just make Mr. [Elon] Musk and his billionaire friends even richer?" He was joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten and National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle, among other union leaders. "We are here to sound the alarms on AI and advanced technology because this is a worker's issue, and this race that everybody seems to think we're in to advance AI at all costs, with no guardrails or protections for people, is reckless and dangerous," Shuler said. The pushback comes as several AI leaders have suggested the technology could impact large swaths of workers. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned last year that as much as half of entry-level white-collar jobs could be eliminated by AI, while Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman suggested in February that the technology could replace all white-collar work in 18 months. Others, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have forecast less dramatic scenarios for the workforce but still acknowledge that AI could disrupt the labor market. Meanwhile, the push toward physical AI, like robotics, has spurred concerns about the fallout for blue-collar work. Fain on Thursday compared the technology to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pointing to what he described as the "false promises of shared prosperity" of the trade deal. NAFTA has been widely blamed for a decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. "The same greedy corporate power brokers today want us to believe that killing millions of jobs in the name of AI will be a good thing, and the working class knows better," Fain said, adding, "We will not have our dignity robbed. We will not be made an adjunct to the tool of AI, and we will be heard." Both Pringle and Weingarten also took swipes at first lady Melania Trump over her recent appearance at a White House education event alongside a humanoid robot, which she suggested could eventually serve as an educator. "Despite the false claims of the first lady, AI robots cannot replace human teachers," Pringle said.