[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 121 (Thursday, July 23, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4251-S4253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Artificial Intelligence
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, a couple of years ago, as you may recall,
there was a movie--a film--that came out called ``Don't Look Up,''
starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film was about a
large comet heading to Earth that would destroy the entire planet, and
the astronomers who discovered the comet kept trying to gain the
attention of people and explain to them what was happening and the need
for immediate and bold action to save the planet.
In that movie, they failed, and the planet was destroyed. That was a
movie.
Now, let me tell you about something that is not a movie, not fiction
but reality. I fear that we are living through the same scenario that
existed in the movie. People, especially their elected representatives,
are not paying attention, and the results could be catastrophic.
This time, we are not talking about a fictional comet. What we are
talking about is artificial intelligence which will almost certainly be
the most transformational technology in the history of humanity. It
will profoundly impact the life of every man, woman, and child in our
country. The scale, scope, and speed of this transformation will be
unprecedented.
Nearly every day, there is a news story about how AI is already
transforming the world--from our economy to its impact on our kids, to
our privacy rights, to our political institutions, to the existential
threat that it poses to the entire world.
Let us take a deep breath. When we think about AI, the first question
that we have to ask ourselves is a pretty simple one: Who is pushing
this revolutionary transformation of society? Who is going to benefit
from it? And who is going to get hurt by it?
And the answers to those questions are not complicated. At a time in
American history when we have more income and wealth inequality than we
have ever had before, the AI revolution is being pushed by the very
wealthiest people in our country, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark
Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Larry Ellison.
And why are these multibillionaires investing many hundreds and
hundreds of billions of dollars into AI and robotics? Is it because
they want to improve human life? Is it because they want to address the
economic struggles facing the 60 percent of our people who are living
paycheck to paycheck--Americans who are struggling to pay for
groceries, healthcare, housing, and education? Is it because they want
to make sure that all Americans have access to healthcare as a human
right and that we successfully address the crises we face in housing,
education, and so many other areas?
Is that why these multibillionaires are pushing this revolution?
Maybe, but I doubt it. I think the answer is quite obvious, and
everybody in America knows it. These multibillionaires are investing in
AI and robotics because they want to become even wealthier and even
more powerful than they are today. That is what is motivating these
investments.
I think it is enormously important that we take a hard look at what
an uncontrolled AI push by the wealthiest people in our country will
mean to ordinary Americans.
Over the past year, I have spoken with workers and union leaders,
computer scientists, psychologists, religious leaders,
environmentalists, and privacy experts about AI and robotics. And while
each of these people may be focusing on a different aspect of the
overall situation, they all agree that the unregulated race to develop
more and more powerful AI represents a profound threat to humanity.
This is exactly what the average American today is telling us.
Recently, a poll came out from the publication Heatmap which expresses
an enormous change in sentiment with regard to data centers. Whereas, a
year ago, Americans were evenly split on whether they supported
building a data center near where they live, there is now a 50-point
gap, with 71 percent of Americans opposed to building a data center
near where they live.
And it is not just data centers. When pollsters ask how people feel
about AI, there is enormous and growing apprehension. A recent
Quinnipiac poll found 55 percent of Americans think AI will do more
harm than good, and only 5 percent think AI development is being led by
people and organizations that represent their interests.
Let me give you some of the reasons--just some--as to why the
overwhelming majority of Americans are deeply concerned about the rapid
development of AI and robotics. The American people feel, with 70
percent numbers in a recent poll, that AI will lead to fewer jobs, and
they are quite right about their concerns.
Elon Musk, who has invested hundreds and billions in AI and robotics,
recently said that ``AI and robots will replace all jobs.''
Bill Gates, who has also made huge investments in these technologies,
predicted that humans ``won't be needed for most things.''
Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, said most white-collar
work ``will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18
months.''
And it is not just white-collar jobs that we are talking about.
Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jeff Bezos is
seeking to raise $100 billion to purchase factories all over America.
His goal? Replace the millions of workers who are employed in these
plants with robots.
[[Page S4252]]
Recently, I took a trip in a self-driving Waymo car in San Francisco.
There was nobody behind the wheel. Waymo is already operating self-
driving cars in 10 major cities and, along with other driverless car
companies, intends to expand rapidly.
What does that mean? Well, say goodbye to taxicab drivers, Uber
drivers, truckdrivers, and busdrivers all across the country--those
jobs, gone.
As the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Committee, I released a well-researched report finding
that AI automation and robotics could replace nearly 100 million
American jobs over the next decade, including 40 percent of
truckdrivers, 64 percent of accountants, and 89 percent of fast-food
workers, among many other occupations.
These are not just theoretical concerns. We are already starting to
see the impact of AI and robotics on workers. Amazon and Oracle have
laid off 30,000 workers each. Microsoft has laid off 20,000 workers.
Meta has laid off 18,000--et cetera, et cetera.
Researchers have found that new companies using AI have about 25
percent fewer employees than comparable companies. In other words, the
AI revolution is already making it harder for people to find decent-
paying jobs, and we are only in the beginning stage of this revolution.
Let me be clear. The AI oligarchs do not want to just replace
specific jobs. They want to replace workers. That is the goal.
According to OpenAI's charter, its mission is to build ``highly
autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable
work.''
If OpenAI is successful in building ``highly autonomous systems that
outperform humans at most economically value work,'' I have a very
simple question: What happens to those workers who are replaced? How
will they be able to find new jobs if there are no jobs to find?
If AI and robotics eliminate millions of jobs and create massive
unemployment, how will people survive if they have no income?
If people are not employed and if they are not paying taxes, what
happens to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential
government services funded by these taxes?
But it is not just employment that I am worried about and that the
American people are worried about. AI and robotics threaten our
emotional well-being, who we are as human beings, how we relate to each
other. In many cases, work is one of the ways that we connect to each
other. Whether we are doctors or taxicab drivers, we all want to serve
our community, and we want to be productive members of society. That
gives our lives purpose.
And what happens when millions of people lose their jobs, their
meaning, and their purpose, and their source of connection to each
other?
And work is just one aspect of what we are talking about.
What happens when people live through their screens? Their major form
of social interaction is not with other people but with screens and
artificial intelligence, talking to chatbots, instead of other people.
Further, AI and robotics are threatening the very well-being of our
kids. Let us be frank: Even before the widespread deployment of AI,
children in our country are struggling. There are a lot of reasons for
that, but the evidence is clear. They are struggling.
Today, high school kids have the lowest reading scores in 30 years.
The writing skills of our children are in decline, as are their
cognitive capabilities. College professors tell us their students
cannot do middle school math or read long texts.
That is where we are now. What got us here? Where are we going in the
future?
Experts increasingly point to the role of screens and technology. In
America today--this is really--I keep questioning my staff about this,
but they tell me that this is accurate. In America today, about 40
percent of children have a tablet by age 2. Forty percent of children
have a tablet by age 2. The typical 5-year-old spends over 3\1/2\ hours
per day on screens. Nearly all schools now provide devices in
classrooms.
What is going on here?
Let us be clear: The extraordinary amount of time our young people
spend on screens and the impact that that time on screens is having on
them, all of this is not an accident.
We have testimony from employees at the major Big Tech companies--
like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram--that the algorithms they
developed were designed to addict kids to screens--addict kids to
screens.
A senior researcher at Meta, for example, called Instagram ``a
drug.'' In other words, the Big Tech oligarchs are addicting our kids
to screens so that they can make more and more money. They are
sacrificing the health and well-being of our children for their
increased wealth. And now, Big Tech companies are pushing AI and robots
to replace teachers in our classrooms.
Apparently, it is not good enough for them to addict our kids to
screens, now they want to push AI and robots to replace teachers in
classrooms.
Do we, as a nation, really want AI robots teaching our kids? Does
anyone have any evidence whatsoever that this new technology will help
our kids learn better?
And it is not just the intellectual abilities of our kids that we
should worry about; AI is also impacting their mental health. It is no
great secret that millions of our children are struggling emotionally,
and loneliness and depression are on the rise. There are many kids in
America today whose best friends are not other children they know but
AI bots.
What does it mean for young people to form friendships with AI and
become increasingly isolated from other human beings? Does anyone in
America think the past 20 years of social media have been good for
children's mental health and cognitive capabilities?
Does anyone really think we should now entrust these same companies
with even more power over our children's well-being and development?
But it is not only our kids' health; it is not only the economy. AI is
threatening the very concept of privacy rights.
You know, we hear on the floor of the Senate, time and time again: We
are a free country; we are a free people. Well, let me give you the bad
news. We are not quite as free as people think we are. For decades,
companies have been collecting our personal information, what we search
for online, where we visit, who we talk to, what we buy.
Now AI-powered surveillance companies like Palantir make it possible
for someone to quickly analyze all that information, find patterns, and
create profiles of us.
And by the way, it is not just the economy; it is not just our mental
health; it is not just what is happening to our kids. AI is threatening
our democracy. We are back to the film ``Don't Look Up.'' Well, maybe
we should look at what is going on on the internet right now--right
now--this minute.
The rise of deepfakes, convincing fake images, videos and audio, make
it possible for bad actors to distort what elected officials and
candidates are saying. And I suspect this is personal for many Members
of the Senate who have had experience with this issue.
And let me tell you, if you don't think this will ever happen to you,
you are very mistaken.
In a recent Republican congressional primary in Kentucky, a super PAC
opposing Thomas Massie released an ad with deepfakes depicting him in
a romantic relationship with female Members of Congress. It was a lie,
but there were voters in Kentucky who believed that.
Bottom line, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to
differentiate truth from fiction. How can people make informed
political decisions if that occurs?
As we speak, all over this country, people are rising up against data
centers in their own communities. They don't want to pay higher
electric rates. They are worried about the impact of water. They are
worried about the impact of noise and heat.
And we are seeing people, whether they are Republicans, Democrats,
Conservatives, Progressives saying no to these data centers.
I hope very much we don't do what people did in that movie ``Don't
Look Up.'' I hope while this massive revolution is taking place, which
is going to transform our lives, I hope that we look up. I hope that
people in Congress have the guts to say that the future of humanity
should not be determined by a handful of the wealthiest people on
Earth. Maybe in a democratic society,
[[Page S4253]]
the people should determine where we want to go.
And I know that AI is spending tens of millions of dollars on
campaign contributions, and if you speak up against them, hey, they are
going to put millions of dollars of 30-second ads against you.
But maybe just now in this moment in American history we have the
guts to tell AI where they should go, stand up for our kids, stand up
for democracy, stand up for privacy, stand up for workers, and utilize
AI and robotics to benefit all of us, not just to make a handful of
billionaires even richer.
____________________