Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas

US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

“If there are no jobs and humans won’t be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families, to get healthcare or to pay the rent?” Sanders said. “There’s not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality.”

  • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
    2·
    8 hours ago

    I think Bernie is using the term “consequential” very carefully here. He doesnt mean its the most transformative, impactful technology ever. He means it’s the one that’s going to have the most negative consequences for people - and I think it has the internet beat there.

    But, its certainly arguable. ‘Ai’ and ‘the internet’ are really both a large collection of technologies bundled into one umbrella terb, and there are positive, benign, and negative components within both.

    I don’t ever remember people making ‘fuck the internet’ clubs back when it was gaining steam in 97/98 though…

    • cheesybuddha@lemmy.world
      1·
      17 hours ago

      There were definitely people who were opposed to the internet, and who thought there was nothing useful on it. And there was a lot of useless crap. When the number one visited website is HamsterDance, it’s hard to make a convincing argument that the internet is the future of society