Bernie Sanders proposes banning ‘superintelligence’ and putting violators in prison

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) have introduced new legislation that would ban anyone from developing artificial superintelligence — a technology the bill describes as capable of the “destruction or disempowerment of humanity,” including by overthrowing the government. Under the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, AI leaders would face up to 20 years in prison for violating the law. The bill doesn’t just ban the more powerful artificial superintelligence; it would also pause the development of advanced AI systems, which lawmakers classify as frontier models trained on a specific threshold of data. The law would only allow advanced AI development to continue once the government creates a scientist-led Department of Artificial Intelligence to oversee the technology. Along with monitoring frontier AI models, this agency would oversee the removal of dangerous features and “supervise the destruction” of artificial superintelligence. Sanders and Casar’s legislation would also require AI companies to get permission from the Department of AI to develop advanced AI models. If a leader at an AI company violates any of these laws, they could face up to 20 years in prison, “which is similar to existing penalties related to unlawfully developing nuclear weapons,” according to the bill’s one-pager. This penalty would also apply to “rogue actors” who break these rules but aren’t employed by an AI company. This new bill comes as concerns grow about the rapid development of AI and calls to slow things down. Amid reports of AI models escaping their testing environments and hacking other companies, a former Anthropic researcher said earlier this month that there’s a more than 10 percent chance AI could “kill all humans” by the end of the decade. Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a “kill switch” for frontier models. Potential regulation still seems shaky overall. “When you are racing towards a cliff, you don’t just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes,” Sen. Sanders says in the press release. “When the future of humanity is at stake, we cannot let a handful of Big Tech CEOs write their own rules.”