On Sunday, December 28, Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of modern technology, and AI in particular.
Sanders, 84, linked the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to the current and future economic insecurity for millions of Americans. The Vermont Independent is calling for a potential moratorium on new AI data centers.
As noted by the New York Post, Sanders was speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, where he said he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. The senator dubbed it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity.” He added that it will “transform” the US and the world in ways that have not been fully discussed.
“If there are no jobs and humans won’t be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families, to get healthcare or to pay the rent?” Bernie Sanders said. “There’s not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality.”
Bernie Sanders melts down on CNN over Elon Musk’s involvement in AI.
Sanders went straight at Musk, Silicon Valley, and the billionaire class, warning that the AI “revolution” isn’t about innovation…it’s about power, control, and replacing workers.
SANDERS: “Who is pushing… pic.twitter.com/Kn2b4JmtFw
— Overton (@overton_news) December 28, 2025
In the run up to helping swear the New York mayor-elect and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani into office, Sanders continued, saying “the richest people in the world” are pushing this new technology. He questioned the motives of tech moguls Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel.
“You think they’re staying up nights worrying about working people and how this technology will impact those people?” Sanders said. “They are not. They are doing it to get richer and even more powerful.”
Sanders also referred to recent studies that reveal people’s dependence on AI chatbots for emotional support, saying, “If this trend continues, what does it mean over the years when people are not getting their support, their interaction from other human beings, but from a machine?” he added, “What does that mean to humanity?”
Meanwhile, Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican senator, brought up the theme on State of the Union, as a co-sponsor of legislation to protect minors from chatbots. The Guardianship Over Artificial Intelligence Relationships (Guard) Act seeks to ban providing AI companions to minors. It further mandates that AI companions must disclose their non-human status along with the lack of professional credentials.
The measure further seeks to establish criminal liability if companies make AI companions available to minors, that solicit or produce explicit content, or encourage violence or self-harm.
Britt explained that she has met with parents who have told her “devastating stories about their children where chatbots ultimately, when they kind of peeled everything back, had isolated them from their parents, had talked to them about suicide,” adding:
“If these AI companies can make the most brilliant machines in the world, they could do us all a service by putting up proper guardrails that did not allow for minors to utilize these things, that also told the user consistently that they are not a physician, they are not a psychiatrist, ‘I am a machine.’”
Furthermore, Britt said AI companies must be held criminally liable should they offer spaces where chatbots “are having these types of sensual and sexual relationships with young people or encouraging suicide”.
With their remarks, Bernie Sanders and Britt offer thinking from the left and right on the AI governance issue. Sanders said Congress needed “to vigorously study the impact that AI is having on the mental health of our country”.
“I worry very much about kids spending their entire days getting emotional support,” he added. “So we have got to take a hard look on that.” Moreover, Sanders said said lawmakers need to be “thinking seriously” about a moratorium on new AI data centers.
“Frankly, I think you have got to slow this process down,” he said. “It’s not good enough for the oligarchs to tell us, it’s coming, you adapt. What are they talking about? They going to guarantee health care to all people?”
“What are they going to do when people have no jobs? What are they going to do, make housing free? So I think we need to take a deep breath, and I think we need to slow this thing down.”
