“We need a complete ban on artificial superintelligence—an AI mind smarter than any human and capable of operating independently beyond our control. … [He also called for] a pause on advanced AI development until a new federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and a model review process to ensure safe and secure development of this technology.
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Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon Share a Stage Blocks From the White House to Demand Limits on AI — Sanders Calls for "a Complete Ban on Artificial Superintelligence" and Asks Trump to Negotiate an AI Treaty With Xi, Greg Casar Says "No One Can Win the AI Arms Race," and Chip Roy Answers That "We're Not Supposed to Be Tools for Data Collection" — a Day After Trump Posted That the Danger Is "a HOAX"
September 16, 2026
On Sept. 15, 2026, the Future of Life Institute convened the Pro-Human Assembly in a Washington conference center blocks from the White House — a one-day gathering that put Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon on the same stage, alongside Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.), AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, AFT president Randi Weingarten, and actors Ashley Judd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sanders used his remarks to call for a pause on advanced AI development until a federal AI regulatory body is operating, and for "a complete ban on artificial superintelligence." He said he would introduce that legislation with Casar and pressed Trump to negotiate an AI treaty with Xi Jinping at their coming summit, invoking Reagan and Gorbachev's nuclear arms agreement as the precedent. Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, framed the moment as a "history-defining" one and argued for banning AI systems too powerful for humans to control. Chip Roy, the only Republican member quoted at length from the stage, grounded his objection in the dignity of work and in religious terms. The assembly met one day after President Trump posted on Truth Social that "AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX," alleged a "SICK conspiracy" against AI and data centers, and said a "STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT" is the only guardrail AI needs — remarks that reportedly worried some White House officials and that came as Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk were publicly asking government to slow the pace of frontier development.
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7 Statements
“None of this can just happen in the United States alone. There must be international cooperation. … I am doing all that I can to see that President Trump and President Xi of China negotiate an AI treaty when they soon meet. … Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, two people with very different political and ideological positions, understood that a nuclear war would not be good for either country or the rest of the world—and they reached a nuclear arms agreement. Trump and Xi can do the same. … I know there are many who think that is impossible. It's not.
“I believe the dignity of work matters. I believe God created us and gave us dominion over this planet and as a result technology is a tool for us, but we're not supposed to be tools for data collection and AI apps.
“If an aerospace company started manufacturing planes that do not listen to pilots, the government would not allow those planes into the air. The answer is simple: We ban AI systems that are too powerful for humans to control. … The time for tempering our rhetoric has passed. We owe people the truth. … America is powerful enough to shape our own destiny. To choose our own path. One where we develop AI that serves us, rather than AI we serve.
“No one can win the AI arms race. It's up to us to end the AI arms race. … We must end the AI arms race—because we all still inhabit this small planet, we all still breathe the same air, and we all still cherish our children's future.
“This industry is in a race to replace us. Our work, our livelihoods. … Humans are not means to artificial ends. We are ends in ourselves. … The future we all want is a future built by human hands, shaped by human engagement, answerable to human beings.
“AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX. … [He also alleged a] SICK conspiracy [against AI and data centers, and said the only guardrail AI needs is a] STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.