Senator Bernie Sanders says the rapid, unregulated expansion of artificial intelligence is concentrating power among a handful of billionaires while threatening jobs, democracy and human relationships.
In a new video update, the Vermont senator warns that the world’s wealthiest technology leaders are not prioritizing the well-being of working families as AI and robotics accelerate across the economy.
“It happens to be the very wealthiest people on earth, people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and other multi-billionaires. Do you believe that these guys, these multi-billionaires, are staying up at night worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world? Well, I don’t think so. I think that these very, very rich men want even more wealth and even more power.”
Sanders adds that the economic consequences of AI adoption could be severe, pointing to warnings issued by the very executives building the technology.
“Don’t listen to me. Listen to the people who are developing those technologies. Elon Musk recently said, ‘AI will replace all jobs. Working will be optional.’ Bill Gates predicted that humans ‘won’t be needed for most things.’ Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, warned that AI could lead to the loss of half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.”
Sanders says mass job losses would raise fundamental questions about how people survive in an economy where work disappears.
“If AI and robotics eliminate millions of jobs and create massive unemployment, how will people survive if they have no income?”
Beyond economics, Sanders says he is increasingly concerned about the social effects of AI, particularly on children.
“Millions of kids in this country are becoming more and more isolated from real human relationships and are getting their emotional support from AI.”
In response, Sanders says he plans to push for an immediate pause on the physical infrastructure powering the AI boom.
“That is why, for a start, I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up with the transformative changes that we are witnessing, and make sure that the benefits of these technologies work for all of us, not just the wealthiest people on Earth.”
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