--- title: Bernie Sanders Moves to Ban Superintelligent AI as Trump Races to Beat China description: Bernie Sanders introduced a bill to ban superintelligent AI and urged a Trump-Xi treaty to pause it, colliding with an administration racing to beat China. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-09-14T13:31:51.718Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/sanders-ban-superintelligent-ai-trump-china-race categories: Politics content_type: Analysis region: United States publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to prohibit the development of superintelligent AI and has called on President Trump to negotiate a treaty with China's Xi Jinping to pause AI development, a two-track push that runs directly against the Trump administration's stated policy of accelerating AI to stay ahead of China. Sanders and Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat from Texas, put the bill forward in early September 2026. Days later, on September 12, Sanders took the second track public in a post on X, arguing that the two leaders should use their upcoming summit to strike a deal. ## Sanders' Bill Would Ban Superintelligence and Pause Advanced AI The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, from Sanders and Casar, would permanently prohibit the development of superintelligence and temporarily pause the development of advanced AI until federal safety rules are in place. Individuals could face up to 20 years in prison under the bill, an unusually long term for technology regulation, and it carries penalties for corporations as well. The bill defines superintelligence as AI that can significantly outperform humans on essentially all cognitive tasks, or that can operate without human oversight. That is a different category from the AI in wide use today, which handles specific tasks under human direction rather than surpassing people across the board. In his post on X, Sanders wrote that Dario Amodei, Elon Musk and Sam Altman now agree that AI development must slow down and "pace the frontier," and he argued that agreement did not go far enough. > "When you are racing towards a cliff, you don't just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes." > — Bernie Sanders, US Senator He added: "At their upcoming AI summit, Trump and Xi must negotiate a treaty to pause AI and ban superintelligence before it is too late." ## The Administration Has Chosen the Opposite Policy Speaking to reporters on September 13, Trump cast AI as a contest the United States is winning and means to keep winning. "We're leading China in AI, we're the most sophisticated in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way," he said, adding that "whoever wins AI, wins." He dismissed the safety concerns behind proposals like Sanders' as coming from "negative forces." In a June 2026 executive order, [the White House directed that federal policy promote AI innovation and security](https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/06/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-promotes-advanced-artificial-intelligence-innovation-and-security/), and the order expressly states that nothing in it shall be construed to authorize the creation of any mandatory governmental licensing, pre-clearance, or permitting requirement for the development, publication, release or distribution of AI models. A regime that pauses advanced AI pending federal safety rules and bans a category of systems outright is, in effect, the pre-clearance system the order rules out. For the bill to become law, an administration that has forbidden that approach would have to sign it, or Congress would have to pass it over a veto. Neither looks likely in this Congress. ## The CEOs and the Movement Sanders Is Answering Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published [an essay urging the industry to slow down and "pace the frontier"](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/dario-amodei-pace-the-frontier-embedded-evaluators), warning about loss of control, cyberattacks, bioterrorism and economic disruption. Amodei wrote that the industry must slow the pace at which it improves AI capabilities, while adding that progress would still be rapid. OpenAI's Sam Altman agreed on the need to pace the frontier and backed independent evaluators with deep access to AI systems. Musk was blunter in reply to Amodei, writing, "Dario is right." [The Statement on Superintelligence](https://superintelligence-statement.org/), hosted by the Future of Life Institute, calls for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence that is not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus that it can be done safely and controllably, along with strong public buy-in. Launched in October 2025, it has gathered more than 73,000 signatures. Its signatories cut across fields and factions, including AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Richard Branson, computer scientist Stuart Russell, and political figures as far apart as Steve Bannon and Prince Harry. ## Two Problems Stand Between the Bill and Any Effect An open letter in 2023 made a similar call to pause AI development and drew a large number of signatures, yet it changed little, and development accelerated in the period that followed. Superintelligence also has no settled technical definition, which makes a legal ban difficult to draw a boundary around and difficult to prosecute. A prison sentence of up to 20 years attaches to a line that the field itself has not agreed how to draw. The US-China AI race gives each government a reason to keep moving, an AI treaty would require both to accept limits at the same moment, and a domestic ban would require prosecutors to prove a system crossed a threshold no one has defined. Sanders has put the argument for a pause on the record with a concrete bill and a public appeal. What happens next depends on an administration that has said, plainly and repeatedly, that it wants to go faster. ## FAQ **Q: What is the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act?** It is legislation introduced in early September 2026 by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat. It would permanently prohibit the development of superintelligence and temporarily pause the development of advanced AI until federal safety rules are established. It carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison for individuals, along with penalties for corporations. **Q: What is superintelligent AI, and how is it different from the AI we use now?** The bill defines superintelligence as AI that can significantly outperform humans on essentially all cognitive tasks, or that can operate without human oversight. Today's AI works on specific tasks under human direction and does not surpass people across the full range of cognitive work, which is the line the bill's category is meant to sit above. **Q: What did Bernie Sanders ask Trump and Xi to do?** In a September 12 post on X, Sanders called on Trump and Xi Jinping to use their upcoming AI summit to negotiate a treaty to pause AI development and ban superintelligence. **Q: Has the AI industry agreed to slow down before?** Some of its leading figures have shifted recently. Dario Amodei of Anthropic urged the industry to pace the frontier, Sam Altman of OpenAI agreed on the need to do so and backed independent evaluators, and Elon Musk said Amodei was right. An earlier 2023 open letter made a comparable call to pause AI, drew many signatures, and had little lasting effect, with development speeding up afterward. **Q: Could a ban on superintelligence actually be enforced?** That is the open question. Superintelligence has no settled technical definition, so a legal ban is hard to draw a clear line around and hard to prosecute. A ban would also require action from an administration whose June 2026 executive order forbids mandatory licensing or pre-clearance for AI development, and a treaty would require both the United States and China to accept limits while each is competing to lead.