Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar propose AI superintelligence ban with a 20-year jail penalty

WASHINGTON — Sen.Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep.

Greg Casar, D-Texas, rolled out an aggressive bill Wednesday to rein in artificial intelligence, escalating the debate on Capitol Hill.The 19-page Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would require pausing advanced AI development until a Cabinet-level Department of Artificial Intelligence, led by a secretary of AI, can be created to regulate and supervise it.Violating the rules would come with what they called the “corporate death penalty” plus up to 20 years in jail, which Sanders said is the same penalty as unlawfully building nuclear weapons.The bill is one of the most aggressive of a series of congressional proposals to regulate AI.While AI was a major topic of discussion on Capitol Hill as researchers warned of cataclysmic possibilities this month, there’s little expectation that any meaningful legislation will pass this year.In Congress, “virtually nothing is happening to prepare us for the tsunami that is coming,” Sanders told reporters on a call Wednesday.Add to GoogleBreaking down the proposals lawmakers are considering to regulate AI02:08His bill with Casar includes a list of precursors that seek to define the development of “superintelligence,” including: “The capacity to automate or greatly accelerate the process of artificial intelligence research and development.”The goal is to bar recursive self-improvement, according to an aide involved in developing the bill.

Some AI specialists have warned that recursive self-improvement could lead to AI systems’ training themselves to get smarter and more capable, eventually escaping human control.“We’re dealing with something that humanity has never seen before.It is clearly the most transformational technology in the history of the world, and it is moving very, very rapidly,” Sanders said on Wednesday’s call.

“When we deal with AI, it has been developed and it is being pushed by a handful, a small number, of the wealthiest people...