American senator Bernie Sanders has amplified its recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of the “richest people in the world” to the economic insecurity of millions of Americans – and calling for a possible moratorium on news data centers.
Sanders, a Vermont independent who is caucusing with the Democratic Party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he is “afraid of a lot of things” when it comes to AI. And the senator called it “the most important technology in human history” that will “transform” the United States and the world in ways that have yet to be fully discussed.
“If there are no jobs and humans are not needed for most things, how can people get income to feed their families, get health care, or pay their rent? Sanders said. “There has not been a single word of serious discussion in Congress about this reality.”
A few days before the inauguration of the elected mayor of New York and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in office, Sanders declared: “the richest people in the world” promoted technology. He singled out tech tycoons Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel while questioning their motivations.
“You think they stay up all night worrying about workers and the impact of this technology on these people? » said Sanders. “That’s not the case. They do it to become richer and even more powerful.”
Sanders also pointed to studies that show a reliance on AI chatbots for emotional support. “If this trend continues, what does it mean over the years when people don’t get their support, their interaction from other human beings, but from a machine? he said. “What does this mean for humanity? »
This theme was taken up separately on the State of the Union by Katie Britt, Republican senator from Alabama and co-sponsor of legislation to protect minors from chatbots.
The proposed measure – the Artificial Intelligence Relationship Guardianship Act (Guard) – aims to prohibit the provision of AI companions to minors. It also requires AI companions to disclose their non-human status and lack of professional qualifications. The measure seeks to establish criminal liability if companies make AI companions available to minors who solicit or produce sexually explicit content – or encourage self-harm or violence.
Britt said she met parents who told her “devastating stories about their kids where the chatbots ended up, when they kind of took everything away, isolated them from their parents, talked to them.” about suicide“.
She said: “If these AI companies could make the most brilliant machines in the world, they could do us all a favor by putting in place proper safeguards that wouldn’t allow minors to use these things, and that would also consistently tell the user that they’re not a doctor, they’re not a psychiatrist, ‘I’m a machine.’
Britt said AI companies should be held criminally liable if they create spaces where chatbots “engage in this type of behavior.” sensual and sexual relations with young people or by encouraging suicide.
Sanders and Britt’s remarks offer a rare convergence of thought from the left and right on some aspects of the AI governance issue. Sanders said Congress must “vigorously study the impact of AI on our nation’s mental health.”
“I’m very concerned about children spending their entire days receiving emotional support,” he added. “So we need to think about it carefully. » The senator said lawmakers need to “think hard” about a moratorium on new AI data centers.
“Frankly, I think we need to slow this process down,” he said. “It’s not enough for the oligarchs to tell us, it happens, you adapt. What are they talking about? Are they going to guarantee health for all?”
“What are they going to do when people don’t have jobs? What are they going to do, make housing free? So I think we need to take a deep breath, and I think we need to slow this thing down.”