News24 | US Senator Sanders criticises Trump’s AI approach, blames tech giants for lack of regulation

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he hosts a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House on September 02, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP

• US Senator Bernie Sanders calls for restrictions ‌on AI systems, uniting two political adversaries around ⁠concerns that the technology will harm humans.
• AI-related stocks fell worldwide on Monday ‌after leaders of some of the industry's largest companies called for slowing the pace of the technology's development.
• Bannon said Congress should not pass laws that prohibit states from enforcing their own rules for the technology.

Progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders and conservative podcaster Steve Bannon will together on Tuesday call for restrictions ‌on AI systems, uniting two political adversaries around ⁠concerns that the technology will harm humans.

They will speak at the same ⁠Washington gathering on Tuesday, a sign of how concerns about AI are upending political norms.

Public alarm about the potential danger posed by AI is growing, after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said last ‌week he had resigned, in part because the "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." AI-related stocks fell worldwide on Monday ‌after leaders of some of the industry's largest companies called for slowing the pace of the technology's development.

Bannon, a longtime ally of US President Donald Trump, has criticised Trump’s approach to overseeing AI, placing the blame for the president's unwillingness to regulate ‌the technology squarely on tech ⁠companies.

On his Monday podcast, Bannon said Congress should not pass laws that prohibit states from enforcing their own rules for the technology.

“The American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs,” Bannon said.

Q: Have you ever used AI yourself?

Trump: Yeah, I use AI.

Q: How do you use AI?

Trump: You can use AI for a lot of things.

Q: What do you use AI for?

Trump: I don’t want to tell you that. pic.twitter.com/FkNBQGdsWe

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2026

Reuters previously reported that US senators are debating a bill that would block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models. Previously, efforts to restrict state AI laws failed in the US Senate.

Trump on Monday downplayed concerns expressed by ⁠industry leaders over the weekend about the misuse of artificial intelligence harming people, saying the US already has guardrails in place for the powerful technology.

Sanders and Bannon will be joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Walter Kim, ⁠president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who are also slated to give speeches, according to event organisers. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labour unions in the US.

Sanders, along with House progressive representative Greg Casar, ⁠has called for the US to pass legislation halting development of AI tools that ‌are capable of “overthrowing ‌or undermining the US government,” until the government creates a new agency to police the technology. Casar and Sanders have not released specifics.