At the Future of Life Institute's Pro-Human Assembly, Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon, and others called for tighter restrictions on AI and denounced tech CEOs

At an event in Washington, partisanship took a back seat as elected officials, religious leaders, parents and artists called for reining in artificial intelligence.

New York Times 2026-09-16

Context & Ripple Effects

The Future of Life Institute had already assembled a cross-ideological signatory base through its Pro-Human AI Declaration, bringing figures including Steve Bannon and Susan Rice into the same AI-policy coalition. The Washington gathering turns that shared concern into a more visible political constituency.

The assembly arrives as House Speaker Johnson has indicated a possible congressional role in AI guardrails and planned an AI-executive meeting. It also reverses the framing of a 2024 Washington effort in which tech leaders sought to lobby against AI regulation.

First-order effects

The Future of Life Institute gains a higher-profile vehicle for pressing tighter AI restrictions, with Sanders and Bannon making that appeal legible across ideological camps.
Technology CEOs become the explicit political target of an AI-policy coalition that links concern about the technology with criticism of industry leadership.

Second-order effects

Congressional discussions of AI guardrails face pressure from a coalition organized around restriction, rather than only from executives and investors arguing against new rules.
AI companies seeking lighter-touch policy must address a debate in which safety, political power and the distribution of AI's benefits are increasingly argued together.

Third-order effects

If this alliance translates into durable legislative support, AI governance could be shaped less as a specialist technology issue and more as a contest over corporate power and public control.
The emerging fault line favors state-mediated AI rules that can satisfy disparate constituencies even when they disagree on the broader political program.

The trend: AI policy is becoming a cross-partisan arena where demands for safety guardrails converge with resistance to concentrated technology-industry power.

Discussion

@emostaque Emad on x
Fun story: I had dinner with Steve Bannon once (think ~2018) and asked him about why he was really so anti-China. Can remember him saying it was primarily driven by his fears around Chinese AI and how it must be stopped (!)
@shannonrwatts Shannon Watts on x
If I had as much time as leftist men do to count other people's tweets, I'd be tallying how many times they posted about Kamala Harris campaigning with Liz Cheney for two days versus Bernie Sanders joining a coalition with Steve Bannon.
@marklevinshow Mark R. Levin on x
Two titans of imbecility colluding against AI-data centers. Communist China must be very happy with their old buddies. https://www.npr.org/...
@jenzhuscott Jen Zhu on x
Dario is not a divisive figure. He is a highly uniting figure. Who else in this world could unite Trump, Xi, Jensen, David Sachs, majority of the US AI industry, and the entire Chinese AI ecosystem on one side; and Bernie & Bannon on the other? Huge achievement.
@benshapiro Ben Shapiro on x
So, all the closed-source AI bros are now promoting the idea that AI could absolutely kill all of us. Meanwhile, Jacob Coxon, supposed Anthropic and OpenAI whistleblower - supported by Dario Amodei! - is joining up with Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon to talk about restricting A…
@natesilver538 Nate Silver on x
I've been covering politics since 2008. The anti-AI-regulation takes from the left (by no means all/most of the left; Bernie disagrees!!!) might be the most literally incomprehensible political position I've ever encountered.
@jordanschachtel Jordan Schachtel on x
“Bernie, Bannon, and Randi Weingarten have come together for a bipartisan AI agreement” Say no more. I'm opposed.
@modeledbehavior Adam Ozimek on x
The Bernie left's “these people belong in prison” vs the other left's “the risk talk is just cover for ai being a flop” is the biggest intra far left divide I've seen in as long as I can remember
@glennbeck Glenn Beck on x
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon are sharing a stage in DC today to warn about the dangers of losing control of AI. I signed the Pro-Human AI Declaration right along with them. But that doesn't mean I agree with everything Sanders says, especially his proposal to imprison AI devel…
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
didn't even realize this was an FTL situation. the guy from there tried to convince me in november 2024 that optical computing would be how they solve AI costs
@nnworcester Nathan Worcester on x
The Pro-Human Assembly, bringing together Steve Bannon and Sen. Bernie Sanders, is about to start here in Washington. AI criticism continues to pick up steam here in Washington.
@abc @abc on x
“If AI surpasses human intelligence, as many scientists believe could happen, this technology will escape human control with potentially catastrophic consequences.” Sen. Bernie Sanders warned of the “alarming threat” of artificial intelligence and called for more AI regulation.
r/Snorkblot r on reddit
Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders Demand Tighter Controls on A.I.
r/politics r on reddit
Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders Condemn Tech ‘Oligarchs’ and Demand A.I. Reforms
@kevinbankston Kevin Bankston on x
Notable...Wonder what changes they are asking for ("specifically talked about how we think about IVO and made clear that we can support that," emphasis mine), wonder where Anthropic is on the current text, etc.
@thelastrefuge2 @thelastrefuge2 on x
The Dept of Federal Cyber Compliance. Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
@zachary Zach Warmbrodt on x
NEW: OpenAI is backing a bipartisan House proposal that would require top AI companies to embed outside evaluators to ensure their models are safe. @brendanbordelon https://www.politico.com/...
@mattplatkin Matt Platkin on x
1. Why do we need their blessing? They didn't ask for our permission to recklessly create technology that, by their own admission (!), can kill us all. 2. Can we try relying on expertise of people not seeking trillions of dollars for the thing we are trying to regulate? 3. An ear…
@jawillick Jason Willick on x
Maybe they think “outside evaluators” can be a liability shield.
@emma_dumain Emma Dumain on x
Potentially a big deal for a bipartisan bill that's been slow to pick up traction, despite being the only comprehensive AI safety framework ready for committee action on the Hill
@cspan @cspan on x
.@SecScottBessent says he has not seen any AI regulation that he would support: “I haven't seen anything yet.” [video]
@nancymace Nancy Mace on x
The AI companies warning that AI is moving ‘too fast’ are the same ones moving too fast...they can stop anytime. Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: ‘They could stop anytime they want to. These people want you to give them regulatory sphere.’ This isn't about safety. …
@dkthomp Derek Thompson on x
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills with how many smart people I read and respect are saying stuff like this. The idea that the AI labs are suddenly, only now, just in September of 2026, advocating for AI safety, and that they just came around to this position bc of sudden financi…
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
this could be good but I also hope this isn't a play to lock out smaller AI companies.
@hilbertspaess Jacob Coxon on x
Many many people have reached out with questions and concerns over the last few days. I haven't been able to respond as much as I'd like. AMA! Drop questions below.
@ramez Ramez Naam on x
This is good. Sharing learnings and best practices on safety is a positive for the industry, for their customers, and for humanity overall.
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Chris Lehane said in a press conference this morning that OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have been working together on AI safety for weeks. He also said that ‘OpenAI does not see the need for an antitrust waiver for the three AI firms to coordinate on safety matters’.
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social Jeff Jarvis on mastodon
This is bad, incomplete reporting that Googling #TESCREAL would fix: These doomer “movements” & funders have roots in eugenics. That's the story. — Inside the campaign to convince Washington that AI could end human life https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

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