Bernie Sanders drafts bill to ban superintelligence

Sanders has spent much of this year rallying against data centers, mostly over what the column calls overblown concerns about water and electricity usage. He even cosponsored legislation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a national data center moratorium — a step that would seriously limit America's ability to keep developing and using AI. His latest proposal with Casar goes further by targeting the models themselves, with penalties set at the level of illegally building nuclear weapons.

The column argues that concerns about rapid AI development aren't completely unfounded, noting projections for how self-improving AI could go wrong even as it points to potential revolutions in cancer screening and drug discovery. But it draws a distinction between regulating AI and calling for progress to grind to a halt. Sanders reveals his true motivation, the column says, when he turns to job losses — citing his April rally remark that AI could displace "half of all entry-level white collar jobs in the next one to five years."

Whether the bill advances at all appears to hinge on Republican support, since the column notes GOP majorities remain mostly rallied behind Trump's pro-AI posture. The column's own reading is that banning innovation doesn't save jobs likely to be lost; it only delays the moment workers have to adjust. For American AI developers and data-center operators, the practical question is whether the bill's text, expected in the coming weeks, translates a rallying cry into enforceable federal tools.