Two members of Congress introduced legislation Wednesday that would fundamentally reshape how the United States approaches artificial intelligence development, including an outright ban on artificial superintelligence and the creation of a new federal department to oversee the technology.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Greg Casar are putting forward a bill that would permanently prohibit the development of artificial superintelligence, defined as systems that exceed human cognitive ability or possess sufficient capabilities to plan and execute the destruction or disempowerment of humanity. The legislation would also impose a temporary pause on the development of advanced AI systems until new federal safety guidelines are established.
The proposed Department of Artificial Intelligence would have the authority to approve or deny the deployment of advanced AI systems. Violations of the law would carry substantial penalties, including prison sentences of up to 20 years in certain cases.
“Do we really want to develop a super intelligence that when it becomes smarter than human beings could act independently of human control? I don’t think we do,” Sanders said in discussing the legislation.
The bill has garnered support from employees within major artificial intelligence companies, a noteworthy development given the source of the backing. Juan Felipe Cerón Uribe, a researcher in OpenAI’s Safety Systems, stated that “superintelligence could either go extremely right or extremely wrong” and that “we shouldn’t be playing such games.”
Similarly, Swante Scholz, a software engineer at Google DeepMind who emphasized he was not speaking on behalf of his employer, warned that on the current development path, the “most likely outcome is an existential catastrophe for humanity.” Scholz endorsed a ban on superintelligence development as “a positive change for the foreseeable future.”
The legislative effort comes as Congress has taken limited action to regulate the AI industry, despite warnings from prominent technology leaders about potentially catastrophic risks. President Donald Trump has resisted recent calls for greater government oversight, creating a notable divide with technology executives including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and xAI’s Elon Musk, who have urged stronger federal involvement.
The bill faces considerable obstacles in the Republican-controlled Congress, where lawmakers have struggled to agree on even more modest AI regulations. The divide reflects broader questions about the proper role of government in overseeing rapidly advancing technology and whether innovation should take precedence over precautionary measures.
The legislation offers insight into how the progressive wing of the Democratic Party plans to address AI regulation as the nation moves toward the November midterm elections and looks ahead to the 2028 presidential campaign. The issue cuts across traditional political lines, with concerns about AI safety drawing attention from both those who typically favor government intervention and those who generally support free-market approaches.
The timing of this legislative push is significant. As artificial intelligence capabilities advance at an accelerating pace, the window for establishing regulatory frameworks may be narrowing. Whether Congress will act on these concerns, and in what form, remains an open question that will have profound implications for American technological development and national security.
Related: Grand Jury Declines to Indict Anyone in Death of Nolan Wells
