Sanders and Bannon share a stage to press Congress on AI curbs

Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, two figures who agree on almost nothing, are joining lawmakers to request that AI is slowed down.

Sanders and Bannon will appear together in Washington on Tuesday to make their demands to Congress as they remain deadlocked, and President Trump rejects the new rules for artificial intelligence.

What do Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon agree on?

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, and Steve Bannon, a former adviser in the Trump White House, are both slated to speak at the “Pro-Human Assembly,” which is an all-day gathering in the capital organized by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group led by founder Max Tegmark.

The institute created a set of 33 principles it published in March that it calls the Pro-Human AI Declaration. Its core demands include that people remain in charge of the technology, that individual agency and liberty are protected, that concentrations of power are avoided, and that AI companies are held accountable for what their systems do.

Jacob Coxon, who worked at OpenAI and then Anthropic before quitting the latter over safety fears, had been lined up to appear but pulled out over what he and the organizers described as a miscommunication.

Coxon said he had been drawn to the event because Tegmark was one of his “personal heroes,” but he reconsidered due to the growth of his own platform. He also added that sharing a stage with Sanders and Bannon could be misread.

Despite Coxon’s exit, the speaker list remains impressive, including names like Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Greg Casar, and New York Assembly member Alex Bores.

Actors Ashley Judd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are due to speak, alongside San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and the National Association of Evangelicals’ Walter Kim.

Labor leaders, including the president of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten will be present. Weingarten stated that “elected officials need to say we are going to make safety as important as innovation.” He also referenced a deal between the teachers’ unions and Microsoft that shields student data from AI training.

Why is Congress stuck on AI laws?

President Donald Trump stated on social media that a “strong and smart” President is all the safety AI needs, dismissing calls for a slowdown on Monday. He also wrote that the concerns of AI “taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX.”

With Republicans holding both chambers and the House set to break for recess at the end of the week until after the November midterms, it is unlikely any safety legislation will be passed soon.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has urged Speaker Mike Johnson to delay the recess, meanwhile Sanders has pushed for a moratorium on new data centers.

Senators John Thune and Amy Klobuchar are drafting a bill that would enforce federal oversight, while Rep. Lori Trahan is working with Republican Jay Obernolte on a separate bill called the Frontier Act.

Several AI leaders, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, have called for slowing development, but Trump’s adviser David Sacks pushed back, stating the requests are “becoming a panic.”

If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.