Sen. Bernie Sanders demands CEOs pause AI development ‘in the interest of humanity’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded in a Monday letter that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pause AI development, warning that if they do not, he and his colleagues in the U.S. Senate will act. Sanders cited recent incidents of their models going rogue and their past promises to halt development if systems became too risky, saying 'It is not too late to avoid disaster.' The letter was first reported by Axios.

Sen. Bernie Sanders demands CEOs pause AI development ‘in the interest of humanity’ See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=nypost.com WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders https://nypost.com/2026/08/06/media/francesca-hong-ruthlessly-mocked-after-bernie-sanders-refuses-to-endorse-wisconsin-gov-campaign/ has warned the heads of Anthropic https://nypost.com/2026/04/08/business/anthropics-claude-mythos-model-sparks-fears-of-ai-doomsday-wave-of-devastating-hacks/ , Meta https://nypost.com/2026/07/13/business/meta-pulls-ai-image-tool-after-privacy-backlash-force-their-slop-down-everyones-throat/ , and OpenAI https://nypost.com/2026/08/10/business/openai-risks-white-house-relationship-with-hiring-of-nuisance-ai-policy-executive-sources/ to halt the development of artificial intelligence https://nypost.com/2026/08/10/business/openai-risks-white-house-relationship-with-hiring-of-nuisance-ai-policy-executive-sources/ now or face the prospect of lawmakers doing it for them. “Mr. Sam Altman, Mr. Dario Amodei and Mr. Mark Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster,” Sanders I-Vt. demanded in a Monday letter first reported by Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/08/10/sanders-ai-development-pause . “Stop building machines that humans cannot control … If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will.” Sanders, 84, a longtime skeptic of the nascent technology, cited past statements from each company promising to pump the brakes on AI development if their systems became too risky to safely control. All three have recently reported incidents of their models going rogue https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/openai-agent-goes-rogue-hacks-into-rival-ai-startup-during-security-test/ . “At a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses,” Sanders wrote, “your companies are still racing ahead — investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control.” Earlier this year, Sanders called for the US to co-operate https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/29/bernie-sanders-ai-panel with China to rein in the “ runaway train https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5866949-sanders-ai-risks-china-cooperation/ ” of AI, which critics have warned would pose national security concerns and aid Beijing in the race to dominate the technology. China has used AI to power a sprawling surveillance system to monitor its population. Many experts fear that if Beijing wins the AI race, it will get access to vast amounts of data on Western citizens. Sanders has been particularly concerned about the risks that AI poses to jobs through automation and has pushed for a moratorium https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-ocasio-cortez-announce-ai-data-center-moratorium-act/ on the building of new data centers to enhance the top models. However, the socialist’s efforts have fallen flat so far. However, Democrats could take over one or both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections and launch a series of probes into the tech companies. Reps for Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.