SEN BERNIE SANDERS: Artificial intelligence is coming for the working class. We must fight back

Artificial quality (AI) is the astir transformational exertion successful the past of the world—and volition person a profound interaction connected the beingness of each man, woman, and kid successful our country. And, if you’re presently successful the workforce, there’s a bully accidental it volition instrumentality your job.

Recently, I took a travel successful a self-driving Waymo car successful San Francisco. There was nary 1 down the wheel. Waymo is already operating successful 10 large cities and, on with different driverless car companies, intends to grow rapidly. In Texas, 18-wheelers are present traveling down highways without a driver. Left unchecked, it is apt that millions of motortruck drivers, autobus drivers, taxi drivers, and rideshare drivers volition suffer their jobs successful the adjacent decade.

But it’s not conscionable occupation nonaccomplishment successful transportation. A fewer weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Jeff Bezos, the fourth-richest antheral alive, is seeking to rise $100 cardinal to acquisition factories each implicit America. Not contented with replacing the 600,000 workers successful his Amazon warehouses with robots, helium intends to bash the aforesaid with millions of mill workers.

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Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the richest antheral alive, is converting Tesla into a robot institution with the extremity of gathering 1 cardinal robots per year. What volition these robots do? They volition not lone regenerate mill and warehouse jobs, they volition displace workers successful wellness care, market stores, the hospitality industry, telephone centers, and each different portion of our economy.

AI volition not lone beryllium devastating for blue-collar workers, but for white-collar workers arsenic well. Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, said astir white-collar enactment "will beryllium afloat automated by an AI wrong the adjacent 12 to 18 months." A Stanford insubstantial called "Canaries successful the Coal Mine?" recovered determination has already been a 16% diminution successful employment for younger workers successful jobs exposed to AI—like machine programming and lawsuit service.

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The world is that the AI oligarchs bash not privation to conscionable regenerate circumstantial jobs. They privation to regenerate workers. As Dario Amodei, the caput of Anthropic, has said, AI "isn’t a substitute for circumstantial quality jobs but alternatively a wide labour substitute for humans." According to OpenAI’s charter, its ngo is to physique "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans astatine astir economically invaluable work."

Senator Bernie Sanders speaks astatine the No Kings Rally successful Washington, D.C. connected October 18, 2025.  (Fox News Digital/Emma Woodhead)

Why are AI and robotics being pushed truthful aggressively by Big Tech oligarchs similar Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Altman, and Thiel? The reply is obvious. They are implementing a exertion that volition marque them and their firm clients adjacent richer and much powerful. Why volition immoderate concern privation to prosecute a quality idiosyncratic erstwhile it tin instal AI and robotics and chopped its labour costs by 80 to 90%? AI and robots don’t instrumentality a salary, request a vacation, necessitate wellness care, oregon signifier a union. They conscionable support working—24/7.

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Replacing workers with revolutionary caller exertion is simply a bully concern for billionaires. But for the moving people of this country, AI and robotics could good beryllium a nightmare. If AI and robotics destruct millions of jobs and make monolithic unemployment, however volition radical past if they person nary income? How volition they provender their families oregon wage for lodging oregon wellness care? If workers and their employers are not contributing into Social Security and Medicare, what happens to these programs that supply life-and-death enactment for aged and disabled Americans?

The American radical spot what is coming. And they don’t similar it. According to a caller canvass by Blue Rose Research, 79% of voters are acrophobic that the authorities does not person a program to support workers from AI occupation losses. Fifty-six percent are acrophobic astir losing their occupation oregon having idiosyncratic successful their household suffer their occupation successful the adjacent year. The adjacent year!

Further, the overwhelming bulk of Americans bash not spot the motives of the AI oligarchs. For bully reason.

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We’ve heard this communicative before. In the 1990s, the moving people of this state was told by firm America and their media that unfettered escaped commercialized would beryllium a boon to the system and that it would make millions of caller jobs and rise wages. As galore of america understood then, that assertion was a lie, which is wherefore we opposed commercialized deals similar NAFTA and PNTR with China. The existent extremity of these deals was to unopen down thousands of factories successful the U.S., let companies to determination overseas wherever they could wage hopeless workers starvation wages, and greatly heighten profits for ample corporations. And they accomplished precisely what they acceptable retired to do.

Now, successful the midst of the coming AI revolution, what should we beryllium doing? It’s not complicated.

Congress indispensable enactment to guarantee AI benefits each of us—not conscionable a fistful of billionaires racing guardant for powerfulness and profit.

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That is wherefore I person introduced authorities to enforce a national moratorium connected the operation of caller AI information centers until beardown safeguards are enacted. What does that mean?

It means that if AI and robotics are going to beryllium deployed, these technologies indispensable amended the lives of workers alternatively of conscionable throwing them retired connected the street.

It means that arsenic productivity greatly increases, the workweek should beryllium importantly reduced with nary nonaccomplishment successful pay.

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It means fundamentally rethinking the American societal contract. If AI and robotics are going to make unprecedented wealth, we arsenic a federation indispensable warrant each Americans a high-quality modular of living: decent housing, wellness care, education, and more.

It means that if AI and robotics volition beryllium utilized by children, guardrails indispensable beryllium established to marque definite they bash not harm their affectional well-being oregon their capableness to learn.

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It means that our ideology indispensable beryllium secured from those who would usage these technologies to prevarication and distort reality, and it means that our privateness indispensable beryllium protected from immense surveillance corporations that tin usage AI to progressively way and grounds each facet of our lives.

And last, but surely not least, it means that we request to support the American radical and the satellite from the existential menace galore scientists fearfulness whitethorn beryllium coming. If AI and robotics go smarter than humans, determination is simply a existent anticipation they volition relation independently of quality control, with imaginable catastrophic outcomes. That evidently indispensable not beryllium allowed to happen. The planetary assemblage indispensable travel unneurotic to forestall this nightmarish scenario.

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