Sanders Says Congress Got a 'Wake-Up Call' on AI Risk
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, said Congress has gotten a 'wake-up call' on the risks of artificial intelligence in an interview with NPR published Sept. 15, 2026.
NPR's Leila Fadel interviewed Sanders for Morning Edition about his concerns. The segment was listed as Heard on Morning Edition. It was published at 6:42 AM ET on Sept. 15, 2026.
Sanders said the risk is not only from AI systems now in use. He said future, more capable systems also pose great risks. That includes artificial superintelligence, a term for a future system that would be far more capable than people, like a student outpacing every teacher at once.
The ban and pause plan
The interview came less than two weeks after Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar said they planned to introduce legislation to ban artificial superintelligence and temporarily pause advanced AI development. The plan was described in a Sept. 3 release from Sanders' Senate office. Senate press release The proposal has two parts. One is a prohibition. The other is a temporary pause.
Sanders has also made his case in writing. He wrote an op-ed on sanders.senate.gov titled "AI Is a Threat to Everything the American People Hold Dear." He wrote a second op-ed on the same site titled "AI poses unprecedented threats. Congress must act now." The second op-ed was published Dec. 2, 2025. The titles say Congress should act now, not only study the issue.
The broader context here is how Sanders is defining the problem for lawmakers. He is not talking about disclosure rules or voluntary standards. He is talking about a ban and a pause. For staff who write technology bills, that shifts the questions to scope, threshold criteria, and enforcement power.
In my view, the next things to watch are in the bill text, not the rhetoric. A ban needs a legal definition of artificial superintelligence. A pause needs a definition of advanced AI development, a duration, and a decision-maker. Those definitions will control scope. Scope will control votes.
