Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to the Senate floor on Tuesday with a clear message: the artificial intelligence boom isn't being shaped for the benefit of everyday Americans. He argued it's being steered by a small group of ultra-wealthy "Big Tech Oligarchs" whose primary goal is to further enrich themselves.
In a post on X, Sanders didn't mince words, writing, "Who is pushing AI? Musk. Bezos. Zuckerberg. Ellison. What they want is not what working families need." He named Elon Musk (TSLA), Jeff Bezos (AMZN), Mark Zuckerberg (META), and Larry Ellison (ORCL) as the central figures driving the current push into AI and robotics, accusing them of investing "hundreds of billions of dollars" to expand their own wealth and power rather than address broader economic struggles.
Sanders pointed to specific examples to back his claim. He cited Musk's warnings about AI and robots potentially replacing all jobs, reports that Bezos is seeking to raise $100 billion to automate factories globally, and Ellison's vision of pervasive AI surveillance. The senator's critique suggests Congress is failing to grapple with the profound consequences of this technological shift.
This speech followed a direct attack Sanders leveled at Bezos just a day prior, responding to those reports about the $100 billion automation fund. "The oligarchs want it all. Not going to happen. Stand up and FIGHT BACK," he wrote then. But his criticism is paired with a concrete policy agenda. A minority staff report from the Senate HELP Committee, made public in October 2025, outlines Sanders's vision: a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay, a ban on stock buybacks, and ensuring that gains from AI productivity flow to workers, not just executives and shareholders.
He has also called for a moratorium on building new AI data centers, arguing they threaten jobs, democracy, and public resources like power grids, while continuing to advocate for broader tax measures aimed at curbing billionaire influence.
Sanders's warning on Tuesday went far beyond just job displacement. He painted a broader picture of risk, suggesting AI could eliminate nearly 100 million U.S. jobs over the next decade. He also warned of intensified political misinformation through deepfakes, negative impacts on children's mental health, significant strain on the nation's power infrastructure from energy-hungry data centers, and, in a worst-case scenario, an existential threat if superintelligent AI systems were to escape human control. For Sanders, whether Congress chooses to act on these fronts is the real test ahead.
