When Bernie Sanders and I agree on AI, America had better pay attention



Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warned recently in the London Guardian that artificial intelligence “is getting far too little discussion in Congress, the media, and within the general population” despite the speed at which it is developing. “That has got to change.”

To my surprise, as a conservative advocate of limited government and free markets, I agree completely.

AI is neither a left nor a right issue. It is a human issue that will decide who holds power in the decades ahead and whether individuals retain sovereignty.

As I read Sanders’ piece, I kept thinking, “This sounds like something I could have written!” That alone should tell us something. If two people who disagree on almost everything else see the same dangers emerging from artificial intelligence, then maybe we can set aside the usual partisan divides and confront a problem that will touch every American.

Different policies, same fears

I’ve worked in the policy world for more than a decade, and it’s fair to say Bernie Sanders and I have opposed each other in nearly every major fight. I’ve pushed back against his single-payer health care plans. I’ve worked to stop his Green New Deal agenda. On economic policy, Sanders has long stood for the exact opposite of the free-market principles I believe make prosperity possible.

That’s why reading his AI op-ed felt almost jarring. Time after time, his concerns mirrored my own.

Sanders warned about the unprecedented power Silicon Valley elites now wield over this transformational technology. As someone who spent years battling Big Tech censorship, I share his alarm over unaccountable tech oligarchs shaping information, culture, and political discourse.

He points to forecasts showing AI-driven automation could displace nearly 100 million American jobs in the coming decade. I helped Glenn Beck write “Dark Future: Uncovering the Great Reset’s Terrifying Next Phase” in 2023, where we raised the exact same red flag, that rapid automation could destabilize the workforce faster than society can adapt.

Sanders highlights how AI threatens privacy, civil liberties, and personal autonomy. These are concerns I write and speak about constantly. Sanders notes that AI isn’t just changing industry; it’s reshaping the human condition, foreign policy, and even the structure of democratic life. On all of this, he is correct.

When a Democratic Socialist and a free-market conservative diagnose the same disease, it usually means the symptoms are too obvious to ignore.

Where we might differ

While Sanders and I share almost identical fears about AI, I suspect we would quickly diverge on the solutions. In his op-ed, he offers no real policy prescriptions at all. Instead, he simply says, “Congress must act now.” Act how? Sanders never says. And to be fair, that ambiguity is a dilemma I recognize.

As someone who argues consistently for limited government, I’m reluctant to call for new regulations. History shows that sweeping, top-down interventions usually create more problems than they solve. Yet AI poses a challenge unlike anything we’ve seen before — one that neither the market nor Congress can responsibly ignore.

RELATED: Shock poll: America’s youth want socialism on autopilot — literally

Photo by Cesc Maymo/Getty Images

When Sanders says, “Congress must act,” does he want sweeping, heavy-handed regulations that freeze innovation? Does he envision embedding ESG-style subjective metrics into AI systems, politicizing them further? Does he want to codify conformity to European Union AI regulations?

We cannot allow a handful of corporations or governments to embed their subjective values into systems that increasingly manipulate our decisions, influence our communications, and deter our autonomy.

The nonnegotiables

Instead of vague calls for Congress to “do something,” we need a clear framework rooted in enduring American principles.

AI systems (especially those deployed across major sectors) must be built with hard, nonnegotiable safeguards that protect the individual from both corporate and governmental overreach.

This means embedding constitutional values into AI design, enshrining guarantees for free speech, due process, privacy, and equal treatment. It means ensuring transparency around how these systems operate and what data they collect.

This also means preventing ideological influence, whether from Beijing, Silicon Valley, or Washington, D.C., by insisting on objectivity, neutrality, and accountability.

These principles should not be considered partisan. They are the guardrails, rooted in the Constitution, which protect us from any institution, public or private, that seeks too much power.

And that is why the overlap between Sanders’ concerns and mine matters so much. AI is neither a left nor a right issue. It is a human issue that will decide who holds power in the decades ahead and whether individuals retain sovereignty.

If Bernie Sanders and I both see the same storm gathering on the horizon, perhaps it’s time the rest of the country looks up and recognizes the clouds for what they are.

Now is the moment for Americans, across parties and philosophies, to insist that AI strengthen liberty rather than erode it. If we fail to set those boundaries today, we may soon find that the most important choices about our future are no longer made by people at all.

Everything you NEED to know about the 'smart city' politicians across the nation are pushing



Take a moment to think back to your high school years. Chances are you probably read George Orwell’s chilling dystopian novel “1984,” which centered around a society dominated by mass media and stringent government surveillance. Fear was the iron fist that inspired obedience in the people.

For those who’ve forgotten how the novel ends or never read “1984,” the book’s ending can only be described as nauseating.

Justin Haskins, co-author of “Dark Future,” is concerned that the new smart cities politicians across the nation are touting are disturbingly similar to Orwell’s fictitious society that has long been considered evil and invasive.

Haskins tells Stu Burguiere that the advocates of smart cities will attempt “to sell you on lots of conveniences,” including better-maintained cities, improved affordability, reduced crime, etc.

And while all of those things certainly sound beneficial, there’s a dark side – a very dark side.

“The idea behind smart cities,” Haskins says, “is: ‘Let’s embed technology everywhere; let’s know what’s happening everywhere in the city, not just with cameras … but also with a variety of different sensors.”’

To lure people in, they’ll promise to “build in all kinds of privacy protections,” Haskins explains, adding, “but those privacy protections are subject to change whenever they want” and at their core are “not really privacy protection[s]” at all.

Of course smart city developers will assure people that as long as they’re not criminals, they have nothing to worry about, but is this something we're willing to blindly trust?

“The amount of data that’s being collected” in these smart cities, Haskins explains, “is so extreme” that in places like New York where they’ve already started experimenting with smart city technology, they can “literally [monitor] your use of the toilet” and tell you to “stop flushing” if the powers that be deem it necessary.

China has already fully embraced the smart city, and while its crime rate is certainly lower, the Chinese society is communist and ruled by fear, and “we don’t want that world,” Haskins says.

But it seems that whether we like it or not, that world is coming for us. To find out what the World Economic Forum has planned for cities across the globe, watch the full clip below.


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Does Kamala Harris REALLY want to 'REDUCE POPULATION'? These 2 stories suggest so



Sometimes Freudian slips are humorous; sometimes they suck the air right out of the room.

Kamala Harris’ recent blunder certainly falls into the latter camp.

In a recent speech about climate change, the vice president said, “When we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and reduce population, more of our children can breathe clean air and drink clean water.”

After her ridiculous speech about artificial intelligence, in which she said AI is a fancy thing with two letters, this gaffe has only made matters worse for Kamala.

Although the White House has come forward with a seemingly sincere explanation that she meant to say “reduce pollution,” not “reduce population,” audiences across the country can’t help but wonder if her slip reveals a genuine support of population control.

“I think you could make the case,” Glenn Beck says, “with all of the things that we point out in ‘Dark Future’ that she may have meant pollution in this speech, but they actually do intend on reducing the population.”

He then tells two stories – one involving a Canadian moose and the other involving assisted death (euthanasia) – both of which seem to suggest that population reduction is indeed on the horizon.

Watch the full clip below.


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'Mission Impossible 7's' harrowing AND PROPHETIC message about artificial intelligence



Each film in the "Mission Impossible" franchise revolves around IMF agent Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) saving the world from some formidable foe. Sometimes that adversary is a deadly virus, other times a sinister terrorist, and in some cases a weapon of mass destruction.

The most recent film, "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1" (2023), is no different. It, too, features a daunting enemy that threatens the survival of humanity.

But this time, we’d be wise to pay close attention to the enemy, as it gives us a prescient warning of what is likely waiting for us in the near future.

“The movie makes a really, really good case,” Glenn says, “about what [artificial intelligence] will be like.”

For example, “it will know everything about you, it will be able to predict you because of companies like Google and Facebook” that are “collecting mountains of information,” he continues.

Even something as seemingly benign as a smart refrigerator “is collecting information on you” in order to “know exactly what you’ll do.”

Luckily, there’s a solution for the fictional characters in the film – simply “use the original code” to “reboot the system.”

But in reality, reining in the technological behemoth won’t be so simple.

In the words of Elon Musk, once we “[summon] the demon,” or develop technology capable of teaching itself, there’s a slim chance we’ll be able to regain control once it takes off.

Why can’t we just use the original code and reboot the system like in the film?

“Because it will know you’re going to try to do that,” Glenn shouts. It’s designed to predict your every move, meaning it will always be a step (or several steps) ahead of you.

“The fact is,” Stu adds, “even scientists, even people who have created AI … don’t even seem to know where this is going.”

And it’s undeniably true.

Some of the greatest minds of our current day have expressed hesitancy when it comes to AI.

Elon Musk said, “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that.”

Stephen Hawking also warned that “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”

Stu’s fears don’t end with the unstoppability of AI, though. He also is deeply concerned about what the left intends to “teach” the technology “at the recipe level.”

“They’re seeing this as a huge opportunity,” he warns.

Watch the full clip below.


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