Bernie Sanders urges Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to pause AI development
The US senator called on three leading AI companies to halt development, arguing that model capabilities have crossed a critical-risk threshold and warning of possible regulation.
In short
- The US senator called on three leading AI companies to halt development, arguing that model capabilities have crossed a critical-risk threshold and warning of possible regulation.
US Senator Bernie Sanders has asked Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to pause artificial-intelligence development, arguing that advanced models have reached a level of risk that companies cannot reliably control.
In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, the Vermont senator called for the companies to stop building increasingly capable systems. He warned that the Senate could pursue regulation if development and deployment continue at the current pace.
Sanders cited reports involving AI-assisted biological research and autonomous cybersecurity capabilities. He argued that recent incidents show safety thresholds described in earlier company commitments have been reached. The companies have previously said they could slow, pause or halt development or deployment when capabilities outpace their safeguards.
The senator's intervention follows a separate open letter signed by more than 1,300 scientists and technology workers. That group called for the US government to coordinate an international slowdown in frontier-model development while regulators establish safety rules.
Sanders has previously supported a temporary halt to new data-centre construction. In March, he and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation intended to pause such construction while federal AI safeguards were considered.
