Updated September 15, 2026 at 2:04 PM CDT
Left-wing socialist Bernie Sanders and MAGA strategist Steve Bannon took to the same stage on Tuesday to rail against the AI industry and its leadership, in a sign of how spiraling worries over the rapidly advancing technology are upending political alliances. Still, the pair showed little sign of agreement over how the technology should be regulated.
Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, and Bannon, a former Trump White House adviser, both appeared at the "Pro-Human Assembly" on Tuesday, alongside a diverse set of speakers calling for curbs on AI development.
Speaking to nearly 300 people packed into a Washington, D.C., ballroom, Sanders raised concerns about AI surpassing human intelligence and escaping human control. He said he will be introducing legislation to permanently ban the development of "superintelligent" AI, with Congressman Greg Casar, D-Texas, next week.
"Despite living in a so-called democracy, the public has had virtually no input into the AI revolution that's transforming the world," Sanders said. "Congress, under both Democratic and Republican control, has been asleep at the wheel, and we now have a president whose ignorance regarding this issue is truly embarrassing."
Sanders said decisions about AI are being made by tech leaders who are motivated by profits, adding that society shouldn't let AI developers continue to improve their products if company leaders admit they are losing control of the technology.
He said that he hopes President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will negotiate a treaty to pause advanced AI development when they meet at the White House next week.
Bannon, who took the stage directly after Sanders, called AI the defining issue of our time and laid out a nationalist approach to the technology. He said tech leaders have money and power but they don't have the public's trust.
"We're not doomers," he said. "But we aren't gonna give these guys carte blanche. Their arrogance is overwhelming."
He said the U.S. should place curbs on any exchange of chips, tech or knowledge between the U.S. and China.
"Kick them out," he said. "Take all Chinese nationals out of the labs and back to mainland China."
The assembly — an all-day event — was organized by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group that issued 33 principles in March to guide their "pro-human" movement. Those principles include that humans must remain in charge of AI, people should retain agency and liberty and AI companies should be held accountable for the impact of their technology.
The event comes at a time when concerns over the spread of data centers, the growing influence of AI and warnings from AI insiders caused leaders at Anthropic and OpenAI to call for a slowdown in AI development to keep the technology under human control. At the same time, lawmakers have been urging House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pass AI safeguards.
Johnson has said he supports guardrails for AI, but that companies need to be responsible for policing safety, not Congress.
"We cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us, and that's the challenge," Johnson told CNN over the weekend. "If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American."
But in a nod to voter angst over AI, the House is slated to vote on legislation as early as Tuesday addressing one slice of the issue — the proliferation of data centers. The bill, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act, is designed to shield Americans from spikes in energy costs tied to the construction of data centers.
Even as the Trump administration has consistently championed AI and data centers, lawmakers and candidates from both sides of the aisle have been speaking to voters' concerns about the risks of AI to society. But after AI companies called for a slowdown this weekend, President Trump quickly retorted that the industry warnings were exaggerated.
"AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. He added that the only guardrails needed on AI "is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT." His administration has pushed back against calls for regulation, saying the U.S. must win the AI race with China.
Tuesday's event also attracted Hollywood stars Ashley Judd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who have advocated for stronger AI controls, as well as religious leaders from various denominations and child safety advocates, including parents of children who died by suicide after talking to AI chatbots.
"By centering our common humanity, we maintain a space grounded in trust and collaborative problem-solving to chart a pro-human future with AI," the organizers wrote on their event page.
Copyright 2026 NPR
