'End the AI Arms Race,' Casar Says at Pro-Human Assembly Amid 'History-Defining Moment'

US Congressman Greg Casar on Tuesday called on the United States to abandon its race to develop increasingly powerful artificial intelligence and instead lead a global effort to prevent technologies that could escape human control, declaring that the country—and humanity—faces a “history-defining moment” over the future of AI.

Speaking at the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington, DC, the Texas Democrat and Congressional Progressive Caucus chair urged lawmakers and the public to confront the potential dangers of advanced AI more candidly and reject the increasingly common argument that the United States must accelerate development or China will be the first to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), an advanced AI that can understand, learn, and apply knowledge of any subject as well as or better than a typical human.

“No one can win the AI arms race,” Casar said. “It’s up to us to end the AI arms race.”

The one-day event, which was organized by the Future of Life Institute, featured congressional lawmakers, AI experts, journalists, labor leaders, religious figures, technology critics, and others concerned about the rapid, unchecked development of what could prove to be the most consequential invention in human history.

Scheduled speakers included Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.); Congressmen Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.); Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump; economist and Nobel laureate Daron Acemoğlu; AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler; and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.

Sanders called for "a pause on advanced AI development until a new federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and a model review process to ensure safe and secure development of this technology."

"In addition, we need a complete ban on artificial superintelligence—an AI mind smarter than any human and capable of operating independently beyond our control," the two-time presidential candidate continued. "But none of this can just happen in the United States alone. There must be international cooperation. That is why I am doing all that I can to see that President Trump and President Xi [Jinping] of China negotiate an AI treaty when they soon meet."

"I know there are many who think that is impossible," Sanders added. "It’s not. Back in the 1980s, [then-President] Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, two people with very different political and ideological positions, understood that a nuclear war would not be good for either country or the rest of the world—and they reached a nuclear arms agreement. Trump and Xi can do the same."

Casar also compared the current AI competition to the Cold War nuclear arms race during his speech on Tuesday.

“We must end the AI arms race—because we all still inhabit this small planet, we all still breathe the same air, and we all still cherish our children’s future," he implored.

“Leading in AI diplomacy does not mean waiting around for an international agreement on dangerous AI,” Casar said. “Putting up guardrails now is the best way to show we are serious about getting to a deal.”

The congressman argued that stronger US safeguards could also slow dangerous AI development abroad because Chinese models currently benefit from American technology. He added that export controls could further restrict the spread of potentially dangerous systems.

“Putting up guardrails now is the best way to show we are serious about getting to a deal.”

“If an aerospace company started manufacturing planes that do not listen to pilots, the government would not allow those planes into the air,” Casar stressed. “The answer is simple: We ban AI systems that are too powerful for humans to control.”

Earlier this month, Sanders and Casar introduced legislation to do just that. Sanders argued that their Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act is aimed at ensuring that “the future of humanity cannot be left in the hands of a handful of Big Tech oligarchs.”

Experts have also pointed to the growing number of incidents of AI autonomously hacking into outside systems as proof of the need for a new federal agency tasked with regulating and investigating tech companies as they rush headlong toward AGI.

Casar asserted Tuesday that the immediate task at hand is to overcome the reluctance of politicians and others to speak plainly about the stakes.

“We need to tell people the truth about the danger posed here—and organize the country,” he said. "I, too, have at points held back, for fear of sounding alarmist. Today I want to say clearly: The time for tempering our rhetoric has passed. We owe people the truth.”

The political challenge is substantial. Trump has rejected calls for a slowdown, calling AI risks—which many experts agree include a growing chance that machines could one day wipe out humanity—a "hoax," while arguing that the United States must win the AI competition with China.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has similarly invoked arms race language, contending that if “killer robots” are inevitable, he would rather they be American than Chinese.

Casar offered a starkly different vision, positing that "America is powerful enough to shape our own destiny. To choose our own path. One where we develop AI that serves us, rather than AI we serve.”

“We need a pro-human approach,” the congressman concluded. “End the AI arms race.”