Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as 'the most consequential technology in humanity'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sun 28 Dec 2025 14.00 EST
Last modified on Sun 28 Dec 2025 14.01 EST


US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

“If there are no jobs and humans won’t be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families, to get healthcare or to pay the rent?” Sanders said. “There’s not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality.”

Days from being scheduled to help swear New York mayor-elect and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani into office, Sanders said “the richest people in the world” were pushing the technology. He singled out tech moguls Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel while questioning their motives. “You think they’re staying up nights worrying about working people and how this technology will impact those people?” Sanders said. “They are not. They are doing it to get richer and even more powerful.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/28/bernie-sanders-artificial-intelligence-ai-datacenters

[JBTaurus83]

1. I'm a firm believer

That they want to kill most of us off and have the world to themselves with their new AI.

[JoseBalow]

4. Zardoz

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I think fire and the wheel rank higher.

And agriculture, the creation of cities, gunpowder, the printing press, and the domestication of the horse and other animals.

[LisaM]

3. I think gunpowder, which led to munitions.

There are plenty of horrific inventions, but weaponry, specifically battle weaponry, has to be near the top.

With AI, the lack of regulation is as much of a problem as the technology. I generally despise how it's used - I know some college instructors, and from the stories they tell, I think AI is creating a generation of illiterates. And don't get me started on the copyright infringement that is hurting artists and writers and musicians and now even inventors. But AI has actually led to some medical breakthroughs, too.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. I did mention gunpowder

Along with a few other things, in the body of my post.

[LisaM]

7. Yes, and I was agreeing with you.

I simply elaborated my reasons.

[hunter]

5. Is there really any such thing as Artificial Intelligence yet?

So far as I can tell it ought to be renamed Artificial Inanity.