The robot warriors are coming, and so are the zillionaires, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., warned in a wide-ranging interview with NBC News on the rise and risks of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are not all that far away from the development of robotic soldiers,\u201d Sanders said Sunday. \u201cRight now, politicians \u2014 at least sometimes \u2014 have to worry about loss of life when they decide to go to war. If you don\u2019t have to worry about loss of life, and what you worry about is loss of robots, what does that mean for issues of war and peace globally? It\u2019s a big issue.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sanders is known for his focus on the millionaires and billionaires<\/a> of the world, and how the U.S. government might favor them. <\/p>\n In recent months, he\u2019s turned his attention to AI, which he says is an extension of his primary concerns about wealth inequality.\u201cToday, before we have seen the full implications of robotics and AI, you\u2019re looking at unprecedented wealth and income concentration,\u201d Sanders said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe top 1% of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 93%,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of these zillionaires \u2014 the Musks, the Ellisons, the Bezoses, the Zuckerbergs \u2014 are investing hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars into AI and robotics. What is the result of all that?\u201dElon Musk, the CEO of xAI, was just approved to receive a pay package from one of his other companies, Tesla, that could make him the world\u2019s first trillionaire. <\/p>\n \u201cIt will mean even more wealth and even more political power for these guys at the top, while our democracy gets weaker and weaker. Working people will see a significant decline in their standard of living unless we turn this around.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders\u2019 focus on AI comes as tech companies have announced historic AI investments<\/a> and sought to secure goodwill<\/a> from President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has prioritized ensuring America\u2019s AI ecosystem is \u201cunencumbered by bureaucratic red tape<\/a>\u201d to avoid an \u201conerous regulatory regime,\u201d while also keeping many aspects of the Biden administration\u2019s AI efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sanders is not the only elected official bringing attention to the issue, with rising interest in AI legislation at both the state<\/a> and the federal levels<\/a>. On Tuesday, a House subcommittee met to discuss the safety of AI chatbots<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the interview with NBC News, Sanders said he sees the issue as an urgent matter and hopes to provoke more discussion about AI and its potential impacts on society: \u201cThe folks who have studied this moment are suggesting this ain\u2019t just another technological revolution. It is a lot more profound, and it\u2019s going to move a lot quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n With such a fast-moving and general purpose technology as AI, Sanders sees threats not only to workers, but also to larger notions of humanity. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople are worried that right now, many young people, teenagers, are relying on companionship from AI rather than fellow human beings,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIf kids today have AI as their best friends, as the \u2018people\u2019 they relate to, where they spend most of their time rather than other human beings, what kind of change does that mean for humanity?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about incredibly deep, deep issues of what it means to be human,\u201d Sanders concluded. \u201cThis issue needs enormous discussion, and I hope we can provoke some of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders will hold a town hall<\/a> with \u201cGodfather of AI\u201d and Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton on Tuesday night at Georgetown University to discuss AI\u2019s trajectory, including its effect on workers. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople who know a lot more than I do about this, people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Dario Amodei, they are talking about massive, massive job dislocation,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cMusk recently said<\/a> that \u2018AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut what the hell does that mean if it\u2019s going to replace all jobs? If I\u2019m a factory worker today, if I\u2019m working in an office, how am I going to feed my family? How am I going to pay the rent? Who is talking about that?\u201d Sanders added, also referencing recent claims from Anthropic CEO Amodei<\/a> that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and increase unemployment by up to 20% in the next 1-5 years. <\/p>\n \u201cThere has been far, far, far too little discussion among the American people, in the media and certainly in Congress about the implications of AI and robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, Sanders released a report on AI<\/a> and led a hearing on AI\u2019s potential to support American workers and families<\/a>. <\/p>\n He\u2019s also proposed a limited set<\/a> of policies that he says could help address some issues posed by AI, including increased employee ownership of companies, a reduced workweek and even a potential robot tax on large corporations, using \u201cthe revenue to improve the lives of workers who have been harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders has also proposed that leading American AI company OpenAI should be broken up given its size. In his interview with NBC News, he said his call \u201cwas more general\u201d than just OpenAI and meant to implicate several of America\u2019s largest AI companies.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I talk about breaking these [companies] up, I mean creating a situation where this new technology is designed to benefit ordinary people, not just designed by a handful of billionaires to make them even richer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a blueprint in my back pocket here, because nobody has ever had to deal with this reality, but the idea that a handful of multibillionaires can determine the future of humanity seems a little bit crazy to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders is also criticizing growing efforts by American venture capitalists and deep-pocketed donors to create super PACs<\/a> designed to lobby against AI regulation<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got people who are suggesting that it\u2019s almost anti-religious, the Antichrist, to be demanding regulation of AI and robotics right now,\u201d he said, obliquely referencing recent speeches by Silicon Valley stalwart Peter Thiel<\/a>. In one of these lectures, Thiel said<\/a>: \u201cIn the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt almost takes you back to the 1700s and the monarchies throughout Europe,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSome of these Big Tech guys think that they have a God-given right to rule the world, and the idea that a Congress or ordinary citizens might object to what they are doing, they see as something that is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo they will put unlimited amounts of money into super PACs to elect candidates who will allow them to do whatever they want. It\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about increasing cooperation between leading American AI companies and the U.S. military<\/a>, Sanders highlighted growing concerns about privacy. \u201cHow far away are we from a small number of people having access to the email that you\u2019ve sent out, every phone call that you\u2019ve been on, really every aspect of your life? We\u2019re not far.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEither we\u2019re there right now or we certainly assume we\u2019ll be there. That gives the people on top extraordinary control when they have that knowledge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sanders joins a growing and bipartisan group of national politicians focusing on AI. <\/p>\n Some, like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have targeted the societal impacts of AI. Hawley has recently proposed several AI-related bills, including an effort to limit minors\u2019 access to chatbots<\/a>, a push to better track AI-related layoffs<\/a> and a mechanism to evaluate AI models\u2019 abilities<\/a>. <\/p>\n