Bernie Sanders Has His Eye on AI

Photo Illustration by The Bulwark / Photos: Getty

Ghost in the shell bill

The rapid, power grid, draining growth of the AI industry has led to a surprisingly intense popular backlash, one divorced from other criticisms of AI that focus on its plagiaristic regurgitating of anything that can be sucked into the machines’ “training.” The data centers’ power demands are great enough that they are contributing to increased energy costs for the Americans who live near them, and the prospect of widespread AI-driven job loss isn’t helping the industry much with its PR problem, either.

Few mainstream politicians seem overly concerned about these data centers and the way the industry building them is reshaping the U.S. economy, which some critics argue could be setting it up for a catastrophic bubble burst. But some lawmakers are keyed in, and they are introducing legislation to either promote AI or take significant steps to curb its growth. For those seeking to implement restrictions on the industry, it’s unclear whether their primary goal is to address the genuine concerns Americans have about the disruptive new technology, or to instead harness AI’s unpopularity to advance their preexisting populist policy goals.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has two bills right now that directly address artificial intelligence. The first, which he unveiled in March, would impose a moratorium on the development of new data centers for AI pending the adoption of safeguards for the industry “to ensure the safety of humanity.” The second, debuted in a New York Times op-ed on Monday, would have the federal government take a 50 percent ownership stake in AI companies. The federally expropriated stock would in turn create a sovereign wealth fund, a state-owned investment program to manage the United States’ surplus wealth and pass along some of the proceeds to the American people.

You may have noticed that these two proposals seem to run counter to one another: A moratorium on data center construction would result in an immediate reduction in the value of these companies, at least temporarily. Meanwhile, the primary purpose of a sovereign wealth fund, as with running any for-profit company, is to generate money. It’s not meant to be like the Postal Service, which Republicans often characterize as a money-losing business but in reality is an essential government service. The proposed moratorium would shut down the AI industry’s means of expansion and operation, crippling its financial growth. It makes no sense for the government to be taking partial ownership of a company it is simultaneously hindering. That would seem to be putting on hold its fiduciary duty to the taxpayer. When I asked Sanders how these two pieces of legislation would mesh together, he appeared a bit stumped, a rare state for the Vermont senator.

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