By: Sen. Bernie Sanders; Wall Street Journal
It kills jobs, equality, connection, democracy and maybe the human race. Congress must act.
The American people are deeply apprehensive about the impact that artificial intelligence will have on their lives. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 55% of Americans think AI will do more harm than good, 70% think AI will lead to fewer jobs, and only 5% think AI development is being led by people and organizations that represent their interests.
In the midst of all of this deep concern about the future of AI, 74% of Americans think the government isn’t doing enough to regulate the use of AI. Sixty-five percent of Americans oppose the construction of new data centers in their community.
The American people understand that AI and robotics will transform our world. They want to make certain that this technological revolution makes life better, not worse, for them and their families. They know that fundamental questions must be answered before we rush forward. They don’t trust the AI oligarchs.
At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, people recognize the AI revolution is being led by some of the wealthiest people in this country. Billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison are investing enormous sums in AI and robotics not to improve life for working families but to expand their own wealth and power.
How can we rush forward when AI could displace tens of millions of workers? Elon Musk has stated that “AI and robots will replace all jobs.” Bill Gates has said humans won’t be needed “for most things.” If machines can perform most economically valuable work better than humans can, how do people earn a living and support their families?
It isn’t only the economy. How can we rush forward when AI is already reshaping how we as human beings relate to one another? According to a recent poll by Common Sense Media, 72% of U.S. teenagers say they have used AI companions, and more than half do so regularly. What does it mean for young people to form “friendships” with AI while becoming lonelier and more isolated from other human beings?
How can we rush forward when AI threatens our privacy as we know it? For decades, companies have been collecting our personal information. AI now makes it possible to analyze that information at unprecedented speed and scale. Larry Ellison predicts an AI-powered surveillance state in which “citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on.”
How can we rush forward when AI is undermining our democracy? The rise of deepfakes—convincing fake images, videos and audio—makes it possible for bad actors to distort what elected officials and candidates are saying. If people can’t trust what they see and hear, informed decision-making becomes nearly impossible.
How can we rush forward when AI is driving up electric bills, diverting scarce water, and damaging the environment? Meta is building a data center in Louisiana nearly the size of Manhattan that will use as much electricity as 1.6 million homes. Data centers will deepen our reliance on fossil fuels during a climate crisis.
How can we rush forward when leading scientists warn that AI poses an existential risk to the human race? Geoffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize-winning “godfather of AI,” warns there is a real chance AI could wipe out humanity. Yoshua Bengio, the most cited living scientist in the world, says “we’re playing with fire” and “we still don’t know how to make sure [the machines] won’t turn against us.”
They are not alone. In 2023, more than 1,000 AI experts, including Elon Musk, called for AI labs to “immediately pause for at least 6 months” and, if they don’t, on governments to “step in and institute a moratorium.”
So why hasn’t Congress taken any meaningful action to regulate artificial intelligence? The answer isn’t complicated. The AI industry has already spent more than $185 million to make sure government does nothing to protect the American people.
We can’t allow a handful of billionaires, eager to increase their wealth and power, to rush forward with a technology that will fundamentally transform humanity without democratic input or accountability.
Congress must act. That is why I have introduced legislation, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to impose a federal moratorium on the construction of new AI data centers until strong national safeguards are in place.
A moratorium will give us time to ensure AI is safe and effective, time to protect our privacy and well-being, time to defend our democracy, and time to make sure the economic gains of this technology benefit the general population, not just a handful of billionaires.
The future of AI must be decided by the American people.
