US Senator to IT Companies: If You Don't Halt AI Development, I and My Colleagues Will
OpenAI
Anthropic
Meta
US Senator Bernie Sanders has called on leading tech companies to pause AI development, warning that Congress will act if they do not. He sent letters to the heads of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, stating that AI systems have reached a critical risk threshold and that people are losing control over the technology. Sanders cited promises made by companies to stop AI development if systems became too risky, arguing that moment has arrived.
In August 2026, US Senator Bernie Sanders sent letters to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, urging them to temporarily halt AI development. He warned that if they do not take appropriate action, he and his colleagues in the US Senate will. Sanders reminded the companies that they previously promised to stop AI development if systems became too risky and uncontrollable, and that this point has now been reached, citing loss of human control and creation of potentially dangerous viruses. The letter came after Sanders argued that tech giants continue to invest billions into technology nobody can fully understand, predict, or control. The report also mentions that Elon Musk called for a slowdown in AI development in December 2025, Anthropic advocated for slowing neural network progress in June 2026, and OpenAI decided to slow development of its Astra AI model in August 2026 due to safety concerns. Additionally, in 2025, over 1,000 celebrities and public figures signed an open letter calling for a ban on superintelligent AI development, with signatories including Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak, and Nobel laureates Geoffrey Hinton and Daron Acemoglu.
- Abbreviations
- ASI = Artificial Superintelligence — искусственный сверхинтеллект
Source: CNews —
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