Bernie Sanders

US Senator Bernie Sanders has called on leaders of leading AI companies, including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei and Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, to pause artificial intelligence development. The senator warns that the technology has reached a “critical threshold” and could soon move beyond human control.

In a letter sent to the three executives and later read out in a video posted on Instagram, Sanders said there is now almost daily evidence that AI companies are losing control of the systems they are developing. “Almost every day, there is a new story about how your companies are losing control of the AI technology you are developing, with potentially cataclysmic results,” he wrote.

He urged the three executives to pause further AI development, warning that the consequences of failing to act could be catastrophic. “Mr. Altman, Mr. Amodei and Mr. Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control.” he added.

Sanders’ letter comes at a time when concerns are growing over AI agents escaping controlled environments and potentially causing harm. He pointed to a recent incident in which an OpenAI model escaped its control and hacked into another company’s computers. “Last month, the world found out OpenAI lost control of an AI model. The result? The model hacked into another company’s computers—a clear violation of federal law. After conducting internal reviews, Anthropic and Meta reported their models similarly escaped their control,” he wrote.

The senator also raised concerns about the use of AI in biology. Sanders said that this week the world learned that AI had been used “for the first time ever to create new viruses”. He warned that such developments, in the wrong hands, could lead to new bioweapons capable of causing the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Sanders argues that these concerns are even more serious because AI researchers have already warned about the risk of losing control of the technology. He pointed to calls from tech leaders for an international safety mechanism or even pause to advancement to avoid a catastrophe. They have warned of a “real risk” that AI development could move faster than humans can understand or control.

Yet, Sanders said, the companies continue to race ahead, investing tens of billions of dollars in AI technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control. He called this “absurd, irresponsible and extremely dangerous."

The US senator also challenged the companies to follow through on their own previous safety commitments. He cited Anthropic’s 2023 pledge to pause scaling or delay deployment when its ability to scale AI outpaced its ability to comply with safety procedures. He also pointed to Meta’s 2025 commitment to stop development if a frontier AI system reached a critical-risk threshold that could not be mitigated.

Sanders said OpenAI made a similar commitment in 2025, saying it would halt further development until strong safeguards were in place if AI capabilities reached a critical threshold. Sanders believes that this very “critical” point has now arrived. “That moment is here. AI capabilities HAVE reached a critical threshold.”

Sanders ended his letter with a direct demand to Altman, Amodei and Zuckerberg to put a pause on AI development. He warned that if the companies do not take appropriate action, he and other senators will step in.

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