Bernie Sanders' push for AI superintelligence regulation
Senator Bernie Sanders and Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon both spoke at a "Pro-Human Assembly" rally in Washington on September 15, separately but in close succession, both warning of catastrophic risks from unchecked AI development in what Bannon called a "Cold War moment" -- a notable left-right convergence, since both said they distrust AI company executives and worry that the technology's benefits are being concentrated among a small number of tech billionaires while the public bears the risks. Sanders has proposed legislation for a one-time 50% tax on AI companies' value to fund a sovereign wealth stake plus a ban on "superintelligence" that could subvert human control, and urged Trump to negotiate a US-China AI treaty when he meets Xi Jinping later in September, comparing it to Reagan-Gorbachev nuclear disarmament; Bannon countered that treaties take too long and would empower China, instead calling for Trump to create a regulatory agency via executive action and to bar Chinese nationals from US AI labs and universities.
Follow this story on the globe
As it ran
15 September 2026
- Bernie Sanders pushes AI superintelligence ban in clash with Trump Fox News
- Sanders calls for US and China to work together in banning AI superintelligence BBC News
- Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon agree on AI at ‘pro-human’ gathering CNN
- Sanders and Bannon call for AI limits, as public unease grows South China Morning Post
- Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon put aside differences to sound AI alarm CNN
- Sanders and Bannon put aside differences to sound AI alarm CNN
- Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders Demand Tighter Controls on A.I. New York Times
- Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders Condemn Tech ‘Oligarchs’ and Demand A.I. Reforms New York Times