LIVE: Bernie SOUNDS ALARM on AI in MAJOR EVENT

The AI and robotics revolution is framed as the most sweeping technological change ever, projected to be 10 times bigger and 10 times faster than the Industrial Revolution, resulting in 100 times its impact. Unlike previous revolutions, its explicit goal, as stated by developers like Sam Altman, is to replace the majority of economically important human activities, leading to a 'jobs apocalypse'.

Bernie Sanders cites Demis Hassabis (head of Google DeepMind) stating AI will be '10 times bigger than the industrial revolution and 10 times faster.' Naomi Klein states Sam Altman defines AGI as the point where 'the majority of economically important human activities... is replaced by machine learning.'

The driving force behind AI development is a small group of multi-billionaires who are spending trillions on research and implementation. Their primary motives are to maximize profits by eliminating workers, break unions, and achieve a state of 'trillionaires with virtually no employees.' This is seen as an extension of their existing anti-worker practices.

Naomi Klein states their motives are 'exactly the opposite' of improving life for working people, aiming for a 'jobs apocalypse' and becoming 'trillionaires with virtually no employees.' Ro Khanna adds they use technology 'to eliminate workers and maximize their profits.'

AI models, particularly large language models, are built by 'scraping' the entire internet, encompassing all human knowledge, written words, and images. This process is described as 'theft' and 'privatization' of collective human culture and data, used to train models that then replace the original creators.

Naomi Klein states AI models were built based on 'theft,' citing Anthropic stealing books (her own included). She explains they 'scraped the entire internet... all of human knowledge and culture. Every written word, every image... has just been enclosed, it has been privatized and used to train these models.'

AI is already being embedded in high-stakes military applications, including identifying targets for bombing. The technology is known to be 'glitchy' and prone to 'hallucinations' or mistakes, which even developers cannot fully explain. Applying such unpredictable technology to lethal decisions raises severe concerns about unintended human consequences and the erosion of human decision-making in warfare.

Naomi Klein notes the Pentagon signed four $200 million contracts with major AI companies. She highlights AI's 'glitchy' nature, calling its mistakes 'hallucinations,' and questions its use in 'lethal' war applications, citing the use of AI in US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the bombing of a girls' school.

Despite widespread public anxiety about AI's impacts, Congress has shown virtually no movement on regulation. This inaction is directly attributed to the immense financial power of AI companies, which have already poured hundreds of millions into elections, effectively buying political influence to prevent oversight.

Bernie Sanders states he has seen 'virtually nothing' in terms of legislation. Ro Khanna attributes this to 'the money,' noting the administration 'handed the keys to the tech billionaires.' Sanders mentions AI has 'already put $400 million into elections' for 2026.

Beyond mere profit, many tech billionaires exhibit a 'god-like complex' and an anti-democratic ideology. They believe democracy is a weakness that 'slows things down' and see themselves as 'carrying civilization.' This hubris extends to attempts at 'defying the human condition' through immortality projects and even 'creating new species,' leading to a disregard for current human well-being and the natural world.

Ro Khanna describes some tech leaders as having a 'god-like complex,' believing they would have been 'conquerors in a different age' and that 'democracy slows things down.' Naomi Klein mentions Elon Musk talking about 'conjuring a god or a demon' and the idea of 'creating life' or 'a new species.'