Sanders and Bannon team up in AI rallying cry in Washington

At the Pro-Human Assembly conference in Washington, organized by the think tank Future of Life Institute, several hundred participants gathered to discuss artificial intelligence. Among the speakers were the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders and the MAGA strategist Steve Bannon, who gave back-to-back speeches with the same message: AI must be slowed down quickly.

"When you are racing towards a cliff, you hit the brakes," Sanders said, according to the New York Times. He called the situation a "dangerous and unprecedented moment in world history."

The participants spanned a broad political spectrum, from Republicans and Democrats to evangelical Christians, Mormons and Catholic leaders, as well as artists. Participants were handed caps with the slogan "Keep the future human." The Hill describes the group as "political figures from across the political spectrum."

There was no agreement, however, on how to move forward. Democratic Congressman Greg Casar of Texas proposed banning AI systems that are too powerful to be controlled by humans. Congresswoman Lori Trahan of Massachusetts said: "I can't believe I have to say this. The future we all want is human. That is not up for negotiation."

The Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, warned that humans must remain masters over AI, while the actress Ashley Judd spoke on behalf of the union SAG-AFTRA about AI abuse imagery and disinformation. Parents of teenagers who died by suicide after relationships with chatbots made emotional appeals.

Sanders has himself introduced a bill to halt the construction of new data centers and is calling for an agreement between Trump and Xi Jinping to ban superintelligent AI. Bannon doesn't believe legislation can solve the problem and instead wants a presidential executive order. "American citizens will no longer be subjects of the oligarchs," he said, calling the moment a turning point in history.

Trump calls the fear a hoax

The White House doesn't share the concern. Trump has previously called fear of the technology a "hoax" and threatened AI executives with criminal prosecution for harm caused by their systems.

OpenAI backs new legislation

At the same time as the conference, OpenAI announced that the company supports a central part of the FRONTIER Act, introduced by Republican Jay Obernolte of California and none other than Lori Trahan. The bill would create the first federal framework for AI safety and force the leading AI companies to use independent verification organizations to check their systems. The requirement applies only to companies above certain thresholds for revenue and computing power.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI's head of global affairs, says the company has told one of the bill's sponsors that it can support it. It's the first time OpenAI has backed a concrete federal requirement for external safety auditors. The company has previously supported a similar California law, and CEO Sam Altman has agreed to voluntarily use external auditors after pressure from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

For the ordinary AI user, the development means that pressure for AI safety rules is growing from several political camps at once, while the industry itself is for the first time moving toward accepting binding requirements for external oversight, even though the White House remains skeptical.