quarta-feira, 16 de setembro de 2026
On September 15, 2026, progressive Senator Bernie Sanders and right-wing strategist Steve Bannon formed an unlikely political alliance at the "Pro-Human Assembly" in Washington, D.C., to jointly demand immediate federal curbs on the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Bernie
Sanders and Steve Bannon call for curbs on AI at ‘pro-human’ summit
On September
15, 2026, progressive Senator Bernie Sanders and right-wing
strategist Steve Bannon formed an unlikely political alliance at the "Pro-Human
Assembly" in Washington, D.C., to jointly demand immediate federal
curbs on the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Key
Takeaways from the Summit
- The Ban Proposal: Senator Bernie Sanders
announced upcoming legislation, co-sponsored with Representative Greg
Casar, to permanently ban the development of "artificial
superintelligence".
- Immediate Pauses: The proposed bill calls for an immediate
pause on advanced AI development until strict safety rules are
established by independent scientists.
- Cross-Partisan Coalition: Hosted by the Future of Life Institute,
the all-day event brought together opposing political figures, child
safety advocates, and Hollywood stars like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ashley
Judd to push for human agency and tech accountability.
- Oligarchy Warning: Sanders criticized Congress for
being "asleep at the wheel" and argued that a handful of tech
billionaires should not decide the future of humanity. Republican
Congressman Chip Roy similarly voiced skepticism over concentrating
massive decision-making power inside corporate tech boardrooms.
Friction
with the White House
The push for
strict regulations directly clashes with the executive branch's current agenda:
- The "Hoax" Stance: President Donald Trump
dismissed the existential threats of AI as a "hoax" on
Truth Social, asserting that the only guardrail the technology needs is a
"strong and smart" president.
- The China Race: The Trump administration
continues to resist industry slowdowns, explicitly arguing that federal
regulations would force the U.S. to cede its competitive tech lead to
China
terça-feira, 15 de setembro de 2026
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon call for curbs on AI at ‘pro-human’ summit
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon call for curbs on AI at
‘pro-human’ summit
Leftwing
senator and far-right strategist rail against tech oligarchs but offer
competing visions on Chinese ‘cold war’
David
Smith in Washington
Tue 15
Sep 2026 20.51 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/15/bernie-sanders-steve-bannon-ai-summit
The
progressive senator Bernie Sanders and rightwing strategist Steve Bannon have
called for restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) but offered competing
visions for what they termed a “cold war” with China.
Speaking
at the “Pro-Human Assembly” in Washington on Tuesday, the ideological
adversaries were united in warning of the potential dangers of AI and demanding
stringent guardrails against Silicon Valley’s “oligarchs”.
But the
populist pair offered very different perspectives on how to resolve the AI race
with China, which Donald Trump and other Republicans have cited to justify
moving full speed ahead with the technology.
Sanders,
an independent senator from Vermont, noted that Trump is due to host the
Chinese president Xi Jinping in Washington next week. Sanders called for
international diplomacy and a global agreement, including with Beijing, to ban
the development of super-intelligent machines.
He told
an audience gathered in the ballroom of a Washington hotel: “A
super-intelligent AI that escapes human control will not be an American
problem. It will not be a Chinese problem. It will be humanity’s problem.
“That is
why I very much hope that at their AI summit next week, President Trump will
negotiate a comprehensive treaty with President Xi to establish a pause on
advanced AI development and a ban on super-intelligence.”
Sanders
drew a comparison with US president Ronald Reagan and his Russian counterpart
Mikhail Gorbachev seeking to avoid nuclear conflict at the height of the cold
war, eventually signing a treaty that eliminated an entire class of missiles.
He said:
“They understood that a nuclear war would not be good for the Soviet Union, not
be good for the United States, not be good for the world, and they came
together for a nuclear treaty. With the survival of humanity at stake, they
found a way to sign that treaty.”
Bannon,
who spoke directly after Sanders but did not share a stage with him, also used
the cold war analogy but did not arrive at the same conclusion.
The host
of the War Room podcast and former White House chief strategist under Trump
called for an aggressive economic and technological “quarantine” of China,
demanding the immediate expulsion of Chinese nationals from US research
laboratories, an end to the training of Chinese engineers and technologists and
the total severance of capital flows.
“Did our
fathers and grandfathers, did they underwrite the Soviet Union?” Bannon asked.
“Did they train Soviet Union scientists? Did they take Russian kids over here
to college to let them go to the best universities and get the best degree? Did
they have Wall Street slobbering to do their deals? Did they have every bank
there to lend them money quicker than to lend anyone in this audience?
“The
answer is they did not. They stood up to the Soviet Union and the first thing
to stand up to them was to choke them off and that’s what we have to do today
to the Chinese Communist party. No deals, no agreements, you’re out of the AI
business because we’re going to shut your ecosystem down.”
Demanding
immediate executive action to isolate Beijing’s tech sector, Bannon said: “No
chips, no black marketing chips, no free ride off American technology, no steal
on American tech … To hell with the Chinese Communist party.”
Only
then, Bannon argued, can the US have the time necessary to consider the proper
regulation of the tech sector. He delivered a scathing verdict on major
technology corporations and executives, accusing them of gambling with public
safety for private profit.
Bannon
accused Silicon Valley of seeking to “socialise all the risk with the American
people including potential bailouts” while keeping all financial upside. “The
American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs,”
Bannon said, praising grassroots campaigns that previously defeated federal
pre-emption bills aimed at blocking state-level AI regulations.
Bannon
has long praised Trump as a historic figure and endorsed his lie that the 2020
presidential election was stolen. But on Tuesday, while claiming that executive
action is required rather than legislation by Congress, he made only a glancing
reference to the president who has dismissed AI concerns as a “hoax” and “sick
conspiracy”.
Sanders,
for his part, did criticise Trump and Congress along with the concentration of
power in Silicon Valley. “Despite living in a so-called democracy, the public
has had virtually no input into the AI revolution that is transforming the
world in which they live,” he said.
“Congress,
under both Democratic and Republican control, has been asleep at the wheel and
we now have a president whose ignorance regarding this issue is truly
embarrassing. Virtually all of the decisions regarding the development of AI
have been made by a handful of the richest people in the world … whose chief
goal is to achieve even more wealth and more power than they already have, no
matter what the impact their work has on ordinary people.”
Sanders
said he would introduce legislation next week to permanently ban the
development of artificial super-intelligence, an AI mind smarter than any human
being, and put an immediate pause on advanced AI development until clear safety
rules are in place.
Recent
surveys have found majorities of Americans worry that AI
could be used to eliminate jobs, raise costs for families or otherwise cause social harm. Residents in several
states have also challenged proposals for new data centres, a critical component of the AI boom.
The
Pro-Human Assembly, taking place against a backdrop of growing bipartisan
anxiety over AI risks, also heard from members of Congress, labour leaders and
religious representatives.
Congressman
Greg Casar, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Sanders, accused AI
billionaires of deploying massive political spending to stifle regulation.
“Even as
the threat becomes clearer, there are many powerful people fighting to prevent
action,” Casar told attendees. “AI billionaires are spending millions through
the Leading the Future Pac to scare politicians into silence. The top
Republicans who control the House of Representatives are not lifting a finger.”
Casar
added: “Leading in AI diplomacy does not mean waiting around for an
international agreement on dangerous AI. Putting up guardrails now is the best
way to show we are serious about getting to a deal.”
Republican
congressman Chip Roy similarly expressed scepticism over concentrating
decision-making power within the executive branch or tech boardrooms. “The
president yesterday said he should be making the decisions about AI. I
disagree. I don’t think big tech CEOs should be making all the decisions about
AI.
“I don’t
think Congress should be making all the decisions about AI. If we allow
technology to fundamentally alter and transfer and change the way we make
decisions about our society and our Republican form of government, then what do
we have left?”
Sabotage suspected as parts of Dutch rail network come to a standstill
Sabotage
suspected as parts of Dutch rail network come to a standstill
A Dutch
minister called the alleged sabotage “particularly worrying.”
September
15, 2026 12:02 pm CET
By Sonja
Rijnen
Dutch
police are investigating a suspected act of sabotage after large parts of the
country’s rail network came to a standstill Tuesday morning, causing delays and
cancellations for passengers across central and northern parts of the
Netherlands.
“Materials
were found in several places along tracks that were deliberately placed there.
This is causing section failures. It seems to be sabotage,” ProRail, the
county’s rail infrastructure operator, said in a statement.
According
to a spokesperson, pipes had been attached to railway tracks, and unauthorized
materials were found in at least 20 locations. This led to multiple signal
failures across the network.
The
perpetrators have not been identified and national police are leading the
investigation. ProRail said its priority was to get trains running again, while
preserving evidence as far as possible.
Annet
Bertram, the secretary of state for infrastructure and water management, called
the alleged sabotage “particularly worrying,” adding that “it is now important
that this is investigated very carefully.”
The
incident happened on Prinsjesdag, the annual day marking the start of the Dutch
parliamentary year, when the government presents its budget plans for the year
ahead.
Dutch
media reports suggest that activist farmers may be responsible. Farmers in the
Netherlands have a history of using similar tactics in protests against the
government’s nitrogen policy, which they may be linking to Prinsjesdag.
The
Farmers Defense Force, a protest and advocacy group, says it is not behind the
suspected sabotage, but has not ruled out that farmers are responsible for the
disruptions.
This is
not the first time the Dutch rail network has been severely disrupted by
suspected sabotage on the day of a major event. During last year’s NATO summit
in The Hague, trains around Schiphol airport were severely delayed after a
fire. No one has been arrested in connection with that incident.
European
countries are on high alert amid concerns about an uptick in hybrid attacks on
the continent. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last
month that Europe faces “an escalating campaign of threats” which were “seeking
to divide our Union.”
This
story has been updated.

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