AI skeptics from Bernie Sanders to Steve Bannon urge action

Progressive stalwarts Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, agree with staunch conservatives like Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and former White House strategist Steve Bannon on few issues. But all four appeared in a Marriott ballroom in Washington on Tuesday to raise alarms about the existential threats of artificial intelligence.

“Our jobs, our freedom and our safety, all at risk. It’s hard to think of an issue that fundamentally touches more aspects of our lives,” Casar said at the event, dubbed the “Pro-Human Assembly” and organized by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that advocates against large-scale technological risks.

The event was planned before last week’s bombshell post by Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic employee who resigned and wrote on X about the critical risks of unchecked AI development and said major developers including OpenAI and Anthropic are “gambling with our lives.” But the gathering took on new meaning in the revelation’s wake, as much of Washington scrambles to come to terms with a technology that has evolved rapidly and for which little regulation exists.

Following Coxon’s post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company would delay its plans to go public this year, citing growing concerns about AI safety. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay last weekend urging AI companies to slow development. His proposal got online endorsements from both Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk.

But the alarms have so far gone unheeded by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, despite some in the populist wing of his MAGA base urging action.

Bannon called on Democrats and Republicans to “rise above” partisanship to address AI risk and provide a check on companies.

“This is a hinge in history,” Bannon said. “We can never trust what oligarchs say, because all they do, they’re disingenuous, and they lie. This has to be the American people … We’re not going to be supplicants anymore.”

Meanwhile, Trump has called the concerns a “hoax” and doubled-down on his support for the industry. 

“The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said it is the responsibility of the tech companies, and not of Congress, to regulate themselves. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, invoked the threat of China in an interview with Politico, saying if the technology does turn lethal, he’d “rather they be American killer robots and not Chinese killer robots.”

And on Tuesday morning, roughly a mile away from the Future of Life Event, Vice President JD Vance met with Republicans near the Capitol. According to Republicans in the room, AI didn’t come up.

Even among those who recognize AI is a growing threat, so far there’s been little consensus on how to address it. Roy, at the event, seemed to split somewhat with the president and advocate a balanced approach between government and…