Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon Unite to Demand AI Restrictions at Pro-Human Assembly

Political Adversaries Unite Over AI Safety Concerns

Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, two figures from opposite ends of the political spectrum, are joining forces to call for AI restrictions at Tuesday's Pro-Human Assembly in Washington1

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. The gathering, organized by the Future of Life Institute, marks an unprecedented moment where bipartisan concern over AI has brought together a democratic socialist senator and a MAGA firebrand podcaster2

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. While they won't share a stage, both will advocate for pro-human AI approaches and controls to ensure humans maintain authority over the rapidly advancing technology3

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The event brings together an unusual coalition spanning Hollywood actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ashley Judd, labor union leaders including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, faith leaders like San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and National Association of Evangelicals President Walter Kim, plus lawmakers from both parties4

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. The AFL-CIO represents the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S., underscoring how AI safety has become a critical issue for workers nationwide1

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Anthropic Researcher's Resignation Sparks Alarm

The Pro-Human Assembly comes on the heels of a bombshell resignation that has intensified public alarm about existential risks from AI. Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at both OpenAI and Anthropic, announced last week he was leaving Anthropic because "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade"1

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. Coxon will deliver in-person remarks at Tuesday's event, warning that frontier AI labs are "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives"3

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Rather than dismissing Coxon's claims, Anthropic backed them up, with one employee stating there was a greater than 10% chance that AI would wipe out humanity by the end of the decade3

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. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay arguing that frontier AI labs needed to work together to slow development pace while ensuring Chinese competitors didn't gain advantage—a position quickly endorsed by OpenAI's Sam Altman, SpaceXAI's Elon Musk, and recently departed Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis3

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. AI-related stocks fell worldwide on Monday following these warnings from industry leaders1

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Congressional Push for Superintelligence Ban

Sanders, along with House Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, has called for the U.S. to pass legislation halting development of AI tools capable of "overthrowing or undermining the U.S. government" until a new agency is created to police the technology1

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. The two lawmakers are advocating for a permanent ban on superintelligence—a hypothetical AI agent that outperforms all of humanity's cognitive performance—warning it could destroy all of humanity if development doesn't slow down5

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Bannon has taken a populist approach, criticizing Donald Trump's unwillingness to regulate AI and placing blame squarely on tech companies. "The American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs," Bannon declared on his Monday podcast1

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. He told Axios that "The Oligarchs are finally being forced to admit they've lied from the beginning about the dangers of acceleration with zero guardrails—they've put the nation and mankind in jeopardy"4

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AI Emerges as Midterm Election Issue

AI safety has emerged as a significant midterm election issue, with candidates in competitive House and Senate races calling for Congress to enact guardrails2

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. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan running in a race that could tip the balance of power, has urged turning AI companies into public trusts overseen by elected regulators. "AI shouldn't be able to deny you health care, it shouldn't be able to deny you a job, it shouldn't be able to fire you, it shouldn't be able to fire a weapon," El-Sayed said on CBS News's "Face the Nation"2

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His Republican opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers, called for slowing AI development and said passing a national security framework would be a "top priority." "My experience as Intel Chairman taught me the time to stop a crisis is yesterday," Rogers wrote on X2

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. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia accused Republicans of dragging their feet, stating "An ancient establishment barely capable of email sleepwalks into a technological revolution while the president dismantles precautions and calls us fools for worrying"2

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Trump Dismisses AI Safety Concerns

Donald Trump has firmly opposed AI restrictions, downplaying concerns expressed by industry leaders over the weekend. On Monday, Trump said on Truth Social that fears of AI taking over the world were a "HOAX" and that the only safety precaution needed was "a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT"1

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. He argued his administration already had "tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies"2

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. Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress should put up guardrails but warned that hasty action could give Chinese companies an edge, and indicated he would meet with AI executives and Trump at the White House within the next week or two2

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U.S. senators are currently debating a bill that would block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models, though previous efforts to restrict state AI laws have failed1

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. Bannon said on his podcast that Congress should not pass laws prohibiting states from enforcing their own AI regulation1

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. The Pro-Human Assembly speakers are looking to energize voters around AI as a central issue, with Weingarten stating "Elected officials need to say we are going to make safety as important as innovation"4

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. Whether these unusual political alliances translate into actual public policy remains uncertain, but the coalition signals AI regulation has become impossible for lawmakers to ignore4

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