U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is urging Washington to cooperate with China on rules governing artificial intelligence, arguing that the rapid development of increasingly powerful AI systems presents risks that cannot be addressed by one country acting alone.
Sanders’ call comes as concern over the future of advanced artificial intelligence intensifies in the United States. Several prominent technology leaders and AI researchers have recently warned that the industry is moving faster than governments are able to establish effective safeguards. The debate has placed questions about AI safety, regulation and international competition at the center of Washington’s political agenda.
The Vermont independent senator has been one of the strongest voices in Congress calling for tougher controls on advanced AI. He has argued that governments should not allow technology companies to develop increasingly powerful systems without clear safety requirements and independent oversight. In September, Sanders and Representative Greg Casar announced legislation that would permanently ban the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence while temporarily pausing advanced AI development until a federal regulator establishes safety rules.
Sanders has also argued that American restrictions alone would not solve the problem if other major powers continued developing increasingly capable systems. In recent remarks, he pointed specifically to China, saying that Washington should seek an understanding with Beijing on limits for advanced AI. He has suggested that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could use future discussions to establish common safety standards and potentially negotiate restrictions on the development of super intelligent systems.
The proposal comes at a difficult moment in relations between the United States and China. Both countries view artificial intelligence as strategically important, with the technology increasingly linked to economic growth, military capabilities, cybersecurity and global influence. Washington has been reluctant to take measures that could allow China to gain an advantage in the competition for AI leadership.
President Trump has rejected calls for a broad pause in AI development, arguing that the United States must remain ahead of China. His position reflects concerns among officials and technology executives that excessive regulation could weaken American companies and encourage investment and innovation to move elsewhere.
At the same time, several major figures in the technology industry have expressed growing concern about the pace of development. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk have backed stronger safety measures or a slowdown in certain areas of AI development. Their warnings have fueled an increasingly heated debate over whether governments should intervene before more powerful systems are deployed widely.
China, however, has pushed back against recent American calls for an AI slowdown. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused U.S. technology leaders of promoting threat narratives and engaging in what Beijing described as malicious competition. That response illustrates the difficulty of reaching an international agreement when AI development is closely tied to national security and economic power.
For Sanders, however, the central issue is not simply which country wins the AI race. He argues that the United States, China and other major powers have a shared interest in ensuring that increasingly advanced technology remains under meaningful human control.
Whether Washington and Beijing can overcome their broader rivalry to establish common AI safeguards remains uncertain. But as artificial intelligence advances rapidly, the question of international cooperation is likely to become increasingly important in determining how the technology develops and how safely it is used around the world.