Sanders and Bannon Unite to Demand AI Restrictions

An unlikely coalition of political adversaries, led by Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, convened at the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2026. Organized by the Future of Life Institute, the event brought together lawmakers, religious leaders, and labor representatives to advocate for a pro-human approach to artificial intelligence. Sanders announced plans to introduce legislation banning superintelligent AI that exceeds human control, comparing the risk to nuclear weapons. Bannon urged immediate executive action to rein in tech oligarchs and proposed expelling Chinese nationals from U.S. labs to allow time for a regulatory apparatus to be established.

This bipartisan push follows warnings from industry leaders and whistleblowers. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Elon Musk have called for a slowdown in AI capability improvements. These calls were intensified by a report from Anthropic regarding the misuse of its models for biological weapons and warnings from former researcher Jacob Coxon that AI could become lethal by the end of the decade.

President Donald Trump has dismissed these existential fears as a "hoax," asserting that his leadership is the only guardrail the industry needs. While House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Ted Cruz have resisted federal moratoriums to maintain a competitive edge over China, Representative Ted Lieu has criticized the administration for allowing the sale of high-performance AI chips to China. The debate continues as President Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24, with Sanders urging the two leaders to negotiate a treaty to pause advanced AI development.