American Senator Bernie Sanders sparked a political storm in Washington, D.C., organizing a debate panel on existential threats from artificial intelligence (AI). He invited leading researchers from the United States to the debate and, which sparked the top controversy, 2 experts from China. This event exposed deep divisions in the American administration regarding the approach to the global technological race.
Existential threat and call for cooperation
The main message of the panel, which included Max Tegmark (MIT) and David Krueger (University of Montreal), was a informing against uncontrolled improvement of super intelligence. Sanders stressed that this technology could be “ten times more powerful than the industrial revolution” and without global cooperation poses an existential threat to humanity.
On the Chinese side, prof. Xue Lan from Tsinghua University and Dr Zeng Yi from the Beijing Institute for safety and Management of AI participated in the debate. Both scientists are key figures advising the Chinese government on AI regulation issues.
Professor Xue Lan argued that the communicative of the “AI arms race” between the US and China is incorrect and harmful. Instead, he advocated creating “safe zones” of cooperation, arguing that “if 1 country is not safe, no of us is safe.” In turn, Dr. Zeng Yi presented Chinese regulations protecting children from interactions with anthropomorphic AI systems and stressed the request to exclude artificial intelligence from atomic weapons control systems.
Political storm and attack of the Secretary of the Treasury
Sanders' initiative met with a sharp reaction of part of the American establishment. Especially loud was criticism from the Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. In the online entry Bessent stated: “The United States is home to the most talented AI researchers in the world. alternatively of utilizing American innovation, Senator Sanders invites foreigners to tell the United States how to regulate AI."
Bessent even went to individual attacks, comparing Sanders' actions to “calling Hugo Chavez for advice in economical management”. For the U.S. Treasury Secretary, the real threat is not technology itself, but the hazard that any another country will dictate global AI improvement rules. Here – no uncertainty – members of the American administration want for the United States the sole power.
Geopolitical context: Trump-Xi Summit
A sharp exchange between Sanders and Bessent is not accidental. It is held almost on the eve of May 2026 by president Donald Trump in Beijing, where he will meet Xi Jinping. According to Brookings Institution analysts, AI safety issues and threats from non-state actors are to be 1 of the key topics of these talks.
The United States and China are now in the clink: on the 1 hand, they are fighting a ruthless conflict for technological dominance (including, among others, the American embargo on advanced chips and accusations of theft of AI models), on the another hand, both parties realize that the uncontrolled improvement of super intelligence can get out of control of both superpowers.
The debate at the Capitol shows that while scientists from both sides of the Pacific see the urgent request for safety cooperation, political reality and rivalry of the powers effectively block this cooperation.
Sources
- Beijinggnology: “Bernie Sanders invited 2 Chinese AI researchers to talk AI safety on Capitol Hill”
- The Times of India: “US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slams Bernie Sanders over AI discretion invite”
- Brookings Institution: “Can the US and China cooperative on AI?”
- The Hill: “Bernie Sanders wars of AI’s existing risk, calls for US-China cooperation”
Leszek B. Glass
Email: [email protected]
