Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon Urge Guardrails for AI at Pro-Human Assembly in Washington

In Washington on Tuesday, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Trump ally Steve Bannon appeared at the “Pro-Human Assembly” to press for guardrails for AI and to argue for a “human-centric” approach to developing artificial intelligence technology.

“appeared at the "Pro-Human Assembly" in Washington, D.C.”

CBS News

Sanders warned that “AI is advancing exponentially — exponentially every single day,” saying “what you are looking at right now is the least capable version of AI that we will ever have.”

Al Jazeera

Bannon, taking the stage after Sanders, applauded the senator and said they were “trying to rise above partisanship, and we have to,” while also blasting tech CEOs for calling for more regulations.

The event’s warnings came as Anthropic called for a slowdown in the frontier AI labs, a position quickly echoed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, and as AI researcher Jacob Coxon publicly resigned from Anthropic earlier this month.

CBS News senior business and technology correspondent Jo Ling Kent said Coxon accused Anthropic and OpenAI of racing to develop advanced AI models, after Coxon said AI could one day threaten humanity as the technology grows more powerful.

At the same Washington gathering, Rep. Chip Roy said the issue goes beyond “raw politics,” telling the conference that constituents in Texas raise concerns about data centers competing for water and generating noise.

Roy also said he disagreed with Mr. Trump’s view that a strong president is all that’s needed to safeguard AI, and he questioned the motives of AI CEOs like Amodei by asking, “Might they be self-interested?”

CBS News

Democratic Rep. Greg Casar framed the moment as a new Cold War, saying, “We may be Americans or Soviets or Chinese, but we are still human,” and adding, “No one can end the AI arms race. It's up to us to end the AI arms race.”

Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced the FRONTIER Act with Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte of California, calling for independent evaluators of frontier AI models, and said, “Humans are not means to artificial ends.”

Despite the bipartisan pressure at the event, President Donald Trump called fears over rapid AI development a “HOAX,” while House Speaker Mike Johnson said it is the responsibility of tech companies, not Congress, to regulate themselves.

The speeches tied AI risk to jobs, safety, and control, with Casar warning that “Our jobs, our freedom and our safety, all at risk,” at the Marriott ballroom event dubbed the “Pro-Human Assembly.”

“"Our jobs, our freedom and our safety, all at risk.”

CNBC

Bannon argued that “This is a hinge in history,” saying “We can never trust what oligarchs say,” and he called for Democrats and Republicans to “rise above” partisanship to address AI risk and provide a check on companies.

Sanders and Bannon also pushed different approaches to China, with Sanders urging Trump to negotiate a pause in AI development with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, and Bannon calling for an aggressive economic and technological “quarantine” of China.

The sources also described how the political calendar could affect action, with CNBC saying calls for quick legislative action will likely go unanswered because the House is set to leave Washington on Thursday and not return until after the Nov. 3 election.

In the meantime, the dispute over regulation remained central, as House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday that there should be no moratorium on AI development because the U.S. would lose its competitive edge against China.