Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Greg Casar of Texas have introduced a sweeping proposal that would freeze development of advanced artificial intelligence in the United States.
Their bill threatens companies with what it openly calls a “corporate death penalty” while exposing engineers, researchers, and executives to lengthy federal prison terms.
The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would temporarily halt work on systems capable of matching or surpassing human cognitive abilities.
It would also create a Cabinet-level agency with extraordinary power to monitor laboratories, remove code, and supervise the physical destruction of prohibited hardware and infrastructure.
Sanders and Casar portray the proposal as a necessary defense against “AI oligarchs” and machines that could escape human control.
Critics see something far more reckless, a unilateral American surrender in a technology contest that China and Russia have no intention of abandoning.
Bridget Bean, a former executive director at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has warned that China is rapidly narrowing the artificial intelligence gap.
She has also raised alarms about dystopian models, biological cyber weapons, and the urgent need to protect advanced American chip technology.
Those warnings highlight the central flaw in the progressive proposal.
Washington can threaten American innovators, dismantle domestic systems, and imprison American researchers, but Beijing will not politely shut down its laboratories because Sanders passed another government ban.
“If the United States stops developing advanced AI, China is unlikely to follow. Surrendering the lead in a potentially transformative technology would carry serious economic and national security costs,” said Daniel Castro, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
Castro leads a prominent policy organization focused on technology and innovation.
His warning gets directly to the national security stakes, since artificial intelligence will influence military planning, intelligence collection, cyber defense, economic productivity, and the global balance of power.
Gary Marcus, an artificial intelligence expert who has testified before the Senate, also rejected the proposal’s sweeping reach.
“A permanent, unilateral ban on all research into superhuman AI is too broad,” he said.
Marcus described the legislation as “a guarantee” that America would fall behind in artificial intelligence development.
He called it “not the right approach,” although he acknowledged that portions of the measure were “defensible.”
The bill borrows its criminal framework from federal laws governing the unlawful development of nuclear weapons.
Companies accused of evading the prohibition could lose their legal authority to conduct business in the United States, while individual violators could receive sentences of up to 20 years in federal prison.
The proposed agency would receive broad authority to intervene directly in private technology operations.
Federal officials could oversee the removal of allegedly dangerous code and order the destruction of systems deemed noncompliant, giving Washington a powerful new bureaucracy with control over a crucial American industry.
The legislation defines prohibited technology to include systems capable of planning or carrying out the “disempowerment of humanity.”
It specifically targets software that could overthrow the United States government, launch unauthorized cyberattacks, resist shutdown instructions, or otherwise operate beyond human control.
Those risks deserve serious attention, but criminalizing an entire frontier of research is not the same thing as creating thoughtful safeguards.
WATCH:
America can protect critical infrastructure, control access to advanced chips, test dangerous systems, and punish actual misconduct without giving foreign adversaries a wide open lane.
Aden Hizkias, associate policy director at the Chamber of Progress, said technology companies must help earn public confidence.
“AI is an incredible tool that can improve millions of lives, but as AI skepticism grows, it’s on companies to earn trust and prove they are good neighbors. That means transparent construction agreements, bringing their own power generation, and making sure they’re meeting environmental standards.”
That is a far more practical direction than treating American software developers like rogue nuclear weapons traffickers.
The country needs responsible innovation, reliable energy, secure data centers, firm export controls, and clear accountability, not a regulatory firing squad aimed at its own technological advantage.
Fox News Digital sought comment from Sanders regarding concerns that his bill could deliver an artificial intelligence advantage to China and Russia.
His office did not respond before publication, leaving unanswered why American innovators should face destruction and prison while hostile governments continue racing forward.
