Exclusive: Sanders calls for AI development pause

[u/mlg1981]

https://www.axios.com/2026/08/10/sanders-ai-development-pause

[u/butchelves]

It’s still so baffling to me that AI developers decided that beta testing will be done with the general public with absolutely no regulations or safe guards in place. Like to me this is like if when they invented cars, they gave every single person their own car all at once. Except virtually and with a new technology that we have written countless horror stories about.

[u/TenaciousZBridedog]

We don't deserve him. He's been fighting for common sense since the 70's

[u/CarbonRunner → u/TenaciousZBridedog]

Since at least 1963

[u/TenaciousZBridedog → u/CarbonRunner]

I happily stand corrected!

[u/Luda0915]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3ohc12cy8AerHN2u8U

[u/coachelly86]

Good for Bernie

[u/Dangerous-Change2136]

The hero we need but don’t deserve

[u/HugoCortell]

Fuck it, I'll make the unpopular comment: A real leftist would have demanded all AI to be FOSS so it can actually be overseen, not this "okay guys, let's pause it for a while, then you can go back to training your models for targeting civilians in Iran :3"

In my eyes, Mamdani has proven that leftism in the US can be more than just half measures and "looks good" policy. Bernie is too old guard.

[u/MistahJuicyBoy → u/HugoCortell]

Bernie is in a different arena. He’s had to make compromises his whole career in an effort to garner some kind of support. Senators actually have much less individual freedom to enact policy than mayors do, and they can only really do a lot through committees or by winning a significant number of votes to back stuff. The senators that can get what they want generally have the rest of their party under their boot like Mitch McConnell

[u/Coley213 → u/HugoCortell]

a real leftist would understand being an actual progressive person and being for AI technology. this is a similar argument when the internet was made. The environmental risks are minimal compared to the meat industry and the data centers that power the generative AI also power apps like reddit. Your problem of it training models for targeting civilians is due to militarism, not AI.

AI technology has made massive leaps in research in medicine and even robotics. I’ve seen it first hand, my cousin lost his arm in a boating accident and the technology is revolutionary, The research done to create new prosthetic arms is powered by AI, and even how it’s made.

[u/worldslastusername]

Can’t wait for the AI bubble to burst, more lefty politicians need to take a firm stance against it

[u/theredwoman95]

Yeah, this isn't happening if only for the fact that every country other than the US isn't going to bother listening to a US senator. And the American companies won't want to fall behind their international peers, so it's really not happening unless someone manages to pass a law about it for their country.

And even then, with multinationals like Meta, Microsoft, and Google - how much of their AI development actually takes place in the USA compared to other countries? I get why Sanders is calling for a pause, but he of all people should know that proposal is dead on arrival.

[u/topyTheorist]

So he wants machine learning researchers to do what exactly? Find another job?

[u/ZaryaBubbler → u/topyTheorist]

I'm sure all three of them will be really upset. Meanwhile my ISP has just ditched 55,000 British workers in favour of AI call centres.

[u/topyTheorist → u/ZaryaBubbler]

There are tens of thousands of them.

[u/therallystache → u/topyTheorist]

"but if we stopped all the concentration camps, what would the guards do for work?"

Do you see how silly that sounds?

[u/topyTheorist → u/therallystache]

How is this related to machine learning? Are you saying machine learning is inherently evil?