Sanders and Casar unveil bill to ban artificial superintelligence and create Department of AI

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar have unveiled legislation to permanently ban artificial superintelligence and create a Department of Artificial Intelligence, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Casar chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the plans were first announced at the 15 September assembly.

The bill, provided first to the Associated Press, would define artificial superintelligence as a system that exceeds human cognitive ability or can plan and execute the destruction or disempowerment of humanity. It would permanently prohibit it, and temporarily pause development of the most advanced AI systems until the new department sets safety rules. Advanced systems would then need federal approval before deployment, with violations carrying up to 20 years in prison in some cases. Current employees of AI companies back the bill.

Sanders used the 15 September Pro-Human Assembly in Washington to urge President Donald Trump to “negotiate a treaty” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to pause advanced AI development and ban superintelligence, comparing it to the Reagan–Gorbachev arms agreements of the 1980s, the Straits Times reported.

Meanwhile Rep. Ro Khanna, the ranking Democrat on the House select committee on China, told the South China Morning Post on Monday in New York that the US and China need nuclear-style AI safeguards: a ban on recursive self-improving AI, certification and inspection standards for frontier labs, with a three-month goal for a basic agreement. His remarks followed eight-hour talks on Sunday between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, trade representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng.