Sanders: ‘Embarrassing’ how ‘ignorant’ Trump is on AI

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) went after President Trump on the issue of AI, saying he has a lack of knowledge around its risks.

“Look, it is embarrassing, really, I think, going beyond politics, how ignorant this president is about the dangers of AI,” Sanders told MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner in a clip posted Tuesday on the social platform X.

On Monday, the president defended his approach to AI, stating that the only protections required are a strong president amid wider calls for guardrails around the technology.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things.’”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Saturday that AI development must be slowed to give space for the implementation of necessary risk prevention safeguards, with fellow tech moguls Sam Altman and Elon Musk backing him up.

“We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” Amodei wrote in a blog post. “Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.”

The Anthropic CEO recommended that AI companies quickly undertake measures aimed at “pacing” the development of models and warned of potentially grim consequences if the technology does not have brakes.

“To be clear, pacing does not mean halting model training or technical progress, but ensuring companies take adequate time to align and safeguard their models, and for third party evaluators to confirm this,” he continued. “Our pacing framework is an attempt to further strengthen our commitment to safety and encourage a race to the top.”

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.