Bernie Sanders Tells AI CEOs To Hit The Brakes, Warns Congress Will Step In If They Don’t

Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling on three of the U.S.'s most influential artificial intelligence companies to pause AI development, warning that lawmakers could step in if their CEOs refuse to act voluntarily.

The Vermont independent directed his warning at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg amid growing concern over the capabilities and unpredictable behavior of increasingly advanced AI systems.

"Mr. Altman, Mr. Amodei and Mr. Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development," Sanders wrote in a letter shared first with Axios. "It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control."

Sanders followed that with a warning about congressional action.

"Let me be very clear: If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will," he wrote.

Sanders cited previous statements from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta indicating that they would pause or stop development if their AI systems became too dangerous to safely control.

The senator argued that recent developments should now force the companies to reconsider the speed at which they are building more powerful models.

"At a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses, your companies are still racing ahead — investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control," Sanders said.

His warning comes after a series of developments that have intensified concerns about advanced AI.

OpenAI recently slowed the release of its latest model, Astra, while OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic have all reported incidents involving models behaving in unexpected or potentially dangerous ways, the outlet reported.

Researchers have also demonstrated that AI can be used to design functioning viruses that attack bacteria. The work could have beneficial medical applications but has raised questions about how similar technology could eventually be misused as AI biological-design capabilities improve.

Concern is also emerging from within the AI industry.

More than 1,200 employees at leading AI companies have called on the U.S. government to support an international effort aimed at pacing the development of increasingly powerful AI systems, Bloomberg Law noted.

The campaign reflects a growing debate over whether governments need mechanisms to slow frontier AI development if capabilities begin advancing faster than researchers' ability to understand or control them.

Sanders' push, however, faces significant political hurdles.

Sweeping legislation forcing AI companies to pause development would be unlikely to attract enough support in the current Congress, particularly as Washington is also focused on maintaining America's technological lead over China.

That means Sanders' immediate leverage may come primarily through public pressure rather than legislation.