Johnson rejects AI pause as Sanders and Bannon urge limits

House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected calls for a pause in artificial intelligence development Tuesday, warning that a slowdown would hand China a strategic advantage even as figures from across the political spectrum demanded tougher limits on the technology.

“We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI,” Johnson told reporters. “Because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family.”

Johnson said AI companies should largely regulate themselves. “They can self-regulate. They don’t need the government to tell them to slow it down. If they want to slow it down, they should,” he said. He also said any guardrails should be balanced, adding: “I think you need independent auditors. I think you need transparency from the people who are developing this.”

His remarks came the same day Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and right-wing strategist Steve Bannon appeared at the “Pro-Human Assembly” in Washington, where both called for restrictions on AI while offering sharply different views on how the United States should confront China.

Sanders urged President Donald Trump to use an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate a global agreement to pause advanced AI development and ban artificial super-intelligence. “A super-intelligent AI that escapes human control will not be an American problem. It will not be a Chinese problem. It will be humanity’s problem,” Sanders told the audience.

He compared the moment to Cold War nuclear diplomacy between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, saying the two leaders “found a way” to sign a treaty because they understood nuclear war would harm both countries and the world.

Sanders said he would introduce legislation next week to permanently ban the development of artificial super-intelligence, defined as an AI mind smarter than any human being, and impose an immediate pause on advanced AI development until clear safety rules are in place. Rep. Greg Casar, a co-sponsor, said “putting up guardrails now is the best way to show we are serious about getting to a deal.”

Sanders also warned that AI could eliminate “tens of millions of jobs,” raise biosecurity risks and concentrate power among tech executives. He said scientists had recently used AI to design new viruses, a development that has raised concern about possible bioweapons. “In the wrong hands, this could lead to new bioweapons and a potential global pandemic that could lead to the deaths of tens of millions of people,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.

Bannon, who spoke after Sanders, called AI “the defining issue of our time” and praised Sanders’ description of the risks. “I don’t think you could find any two harder partisans than Bernie Sanders on the left and Steve Bannon on the right,” he said.

But Bannon rejected diplomacy with Beijing. He called for an economic and technological “quarantine” of China, including expelling Chinese nationals from U.S. research laboratories, ending the training of Chinese engineers and cutting capital flows. “No chips, no black marketing chips, no free ride off American technology, no steal on American tech,” he said. “To hell with the Chinese Communist party.”

Trump has dismissed AI fears as a “hoax” and accused critics of AI and data centers of a “sick conspiracy,” saying efforts to slow the industry would benefit China. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT,” he wrote, adding: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

Johnson said he spoke with Trump on Monday night and that executives from major AI companies would be summoned to the White House for a meeting within the next week.