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BumRushDaShow

(169,886 posts)
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 02:39 PM Feb 21

'Slow this thing down': Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution

Source: The Guardian

Fri 20 Feb 2026 23.26 EST
Last modified on Sat 21 Feb 2026 03.00 EST


Bernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.

Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”. “The Congress and the American people are very unprepared for the tsunami that is coming,” he said.

Khanna, a progressive Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, shared Sanders’s concerns, warning that the country was experiencing a “new gilded age” run by tech billionaires who believe “they would have been heroic conquerors in a different era”. “That’s just not my observation,” Khanna said. “That’s what they tell me.”

Khanna and Sanders declined to specify which tech executives they met with during the senator’s visit to California, but the congressman said it was “senior leaders” at the “most prominent tech companies”. “I think it was important for both Senator Sanders to hear from tech leaders and tech leaders to hear from Senator Sanders, who represents and understands the concerns of so many working-class Americans,” Khanna said in an interview after the event.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/ai-revolution-bernie-sanders-warning

22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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'Slow this thing down': Sanders warns US has no clue about speed and scale of coming AI revolution (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Feb 21 OP
What's frightening to me is how many people think AI is superior to actual intelligence. William Seger Feb 21 #1
I heard an interesting point about AI's self learning from all the data it is absorbing. Marie Marie Feb 21 #7
plus when AI gives answers they don't like, they poison the input to shape the output cynical_idealist Feb 22 #18
We are all on the train but we're not sure where it is going or if it will jump the tracks. twodogsbarking Feb 21 #2
Unfortunately, the Trump administration has it's head up it's ass. It won't do anything. Jim__ Feb 21 #3
And its hand in the Silicon Valley moneybags not fooled Feb 22 #17
Trump will double down, not slow it down. LudwigPastorius Feb 21 #4
Abundant Iniquity is my expansion of AI dickthegrouch Feb 21 #5
Garbage in, garbage out, eh? Wise thought by you here, one that I agree w/, anyone in IT knows that. SWBTATTReg Feb 21 #8
You mentioned AI not being intelligent enough to discern fact from fiction; area51 Feb 22 #13
I just read an article in the Atlantic Mosby Feb 21 #6
This date is very optimistic. It costs lots of money to replaces the millions and billions of line of code for the AIs SWBTATTReg Feb 21 #10
I hear you GenThePerservering Feb 22 #21
AI equals GIGO creon Feb 21 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m Feb 22 #15
The hype is dishonest creon Feb 23 #22
AI is a front for something far more insidious. hunter Feb 21 #11
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m Feb 22 #16
I suspect AI is going to help us far more. cstanleytech Feb 21 #12
AI models of the electric grid really ought to be air-gapped from the grid itself... hunter Feb 22 #20
Ai burns through fresh water 💦, a fundamental element of life questionseverything Feb 22 #14
In my limited experience, AI is like a friend looking for your approval tavernier Feb 22 #19

William Seger

(12,448 posts)
1. What's frightening to me is how many people think AI is superior to actual intelligence.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 03:20 PM
Feb 21

The AI we have today only simulates what is only a subset of what actual intelligence is capable of, and occasionally produces pure nonsense, but the reason it's heading toward us like a freight train is because it does that subset cheaper than actual intelligence.

Marie Marie

(11,322 posts)
7. I heard an interesting point about AI's self learning from all the data it is absorbing.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 05:45 PM
Feb 21

It is beginning to also absorb AI hallucinations and AI slop and incorporate all that misinformation into its "higher" learning. Great.

cynical_idealist

(544 posts)
18. plus when AI gives answers they don't like, they poison the input to shape the output
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 12:21 PM
Feb 22

Dear AI, how do we fix global warming?
AI: Stop burning fossil fuels.

twodogsbarking

(18,812 posts)
2. We are all on the train but we're not sure where it is going or if it will jump the tracks.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 03:33 PM
Feb 21

I agree with Bernie. Also, though, handing things to the government ain't always the best decision either. Will AI determine the fate of AI? Oh, the irony.

not fooled

(6,687 posts)
17. And its hand in the Silicon Valley moneybags
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 11:33 AM
Feb 22

the tech oligarchs made sure to well and truly buy off Diaper Don. As well as facilitate if not make inevitable his re-installation.

LudwigPastorius

(14,742 posts)
4. Trump will double down, not slow it down.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 03:55 PM
Feb 21

I foresee a huge government bailout coming for Sam Altman and OpenAI.

The Chinese must not achieve Artificial General Intelligence before the United States because of something, something, national security something.

dickthegrouch

(4,535 posts)
5. Abundant Iniquity is my expansion of AI
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 04:09 PM
Feb 21

It is Artificial and in no way, shape, or form intelligent.
It was programmed by mostly well meaning people, but is being trained from iniquitous news media, and illegal scraping of intellectual property.
It is not intelligent enough to discern fact from fiction. Especially when neither the government nor the press, two previously trustable resources, are putting out anything more than fiction.

Just because the word truth appears in some part of the page, does not make it so. No amount of repetition of the lie actually makes it truth, but AI systems are programmed to react to frequency, not veracity; they are as incapable of appreciating veracity as most republicans.

Intelligence requires discretion. AI will never have that, IMHO.

SWBTATTReg

(26,262 posts)
8. Garbage in, garbage out, eh? Wise thought by you here, one that I agree w/, anyone in IT knows that.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 07:39 PM
Feb 21

What gets me is that who decides to what elements/knowledge to impart into an 'AI' entity being created? And of course, what will be its
primary inputs and / or outputs. So many issues to address regarding the whole scope of an artificial AI.

area51

(12,696 posts)
13. You mentioned AI not being intelligent enough to discern fact from fiction;
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 12:07 AM
Feb 22

that certainly decribes maga.

 

Mosby

(19,491 posts)
6. I just read an article in the Atlantic
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 04:26 PM
Feb 21

About the growth of AI, some quotes:

Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, estimated that it [AI] would eliminate "literally half of all white collar workers" in a decade.


Dario Amodei, the CEO of the AI company Anthropic, said that AI could drive unemployment up 10 to 20 percent in the next one to five years and "wipe out half of all entry level white-collar jobs".


Tell your kids to skip college and learn HVAC. Those graphic cards aren't going to cool themselves.

SWBTATTReg

(26,262 posts)
10. This date is very optimistic. It costs lots of money to replaces the millions and billions of line of code for the AIs
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 08:28 PM
Feb 21

and of course developing the new platforms, machinery for the AIs to reside in, perform in.

GenThePerservering

(3,393 posts)
21. I hear you
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 04:45 PM
Feb 22

but there is an awful lot to be said for the skilled trades! This might be motivational.

creon

(2,064 posts)
9. AI equals GIGO
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 07:40 PM
Feb 21

It is not intelligent. It has none of the important qualities of intelligence.
IFirst thinkgs, it i mainly clerical. It will eliiminate low level clerical jobs.

Finiancially it is bubble. There are billions of dollars od debt. Debt that cannoy be paid.

Response to creon (Reply #9)

creon

(2,064 posts)
22. The hype is dishonest
Mon Feb 23, 2026, 11:17 AM
Feb 23

AI is a long away.
AI will be slop for a long time.
LLMs will not produce inteeligence.
LLM s will use up and lot of power.

hunter

(40,702 posts)
11. AI is a front for something far more insidious.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 10:42 PM
Feb 21

As it exists now, what they are calling "Artificial Intelligence" is a stupid party trick. That's going to become apparent soon, if not already. People's belief and reliance on this technology will inevitably lead to some great catastrophe -- hopefully financial, not deadly.

Unfortunately all these data centers that are being built will not be torn down and their components dispersed. Instead they will be turned into automated surveillance systems more intrusive than anything George Orwell might have imagined.

Big Brother will be watching you always. You won't be able to take a piss without the time and place being recorded in some database.

Response to hunter (Reply #11)

cstanleytech

(28,477 posts)
12. I suspect AI is going to help us far more.
Sat Feb 21, 2026, 11:22 PM
Feb 21

If anything I think it'll be more of a supplant to help support us such as helping doctors catch problems sooner with a patient's treatment or helping power companies reroute energy and help us monitor things like sudden weather events sooner like tornadoes.
As for the unemployment all they need is to just adjust the retirement system to one where people can truly afford to retire rather than the current system of working them to death and that change alone would open up plenty of jobs.

hunter

(40,702 posts)
20. AI models of the electric grid really ought to be air-gapped from the grid itself...
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 01:30 PM
Feb 22

... same as actual control systems of the grid ought to be air-gapped from the internet wilderness.

Depending on AI to control the grid seems a recipe for major life-threatening multi-billion dollar catastrophes.

We're not being careful enough with AI in medicine either. Often the medical professionals who are hired to "supervise" AI are simply fall guys, someone who can be fired (or worse...) when something goes wrong.

Ideally, electric grids and health care systems ought to be designed to have some high level of inherent stability and resilience.

I think EVERYONE deserves a secure comfortable place to live, clean water, healthy food, and appropriate medical care, not just retirees and the employed.

questionseverything

(11,846 posts)
14. Ai burns through fresh water 💦, a fundamental element of life
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 01:02 AM
Feb 22

So ty Bernie for trying to slow down the madness

tavernier

(14,444 posts)
19. In my limited experience, AI is like a friend looking for your approval
Sun Feb 22, 2026, 01:30 PM
Feb 22

who will model the answer to your question based on the way you ask it, seeking to give you an answer that will fit the result you are seeking. This is nice and cozy between third grader BFFs, but not helpful, and potentially dangerous, when seeking solid advice.

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