Bernie Sanders has warned that Congress and the American public have “not a clue” about the scale and speed of the coming AI revolution, pressing for urgent policy action to “slow this thing down” as tech companies race to build ever-more powerful systems.

Speaking at Stanford University on Friday alongside congressman Ro Khanna after a series of meetings with industry leaders in California, Sanders was blunt about what he called the “most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country”.

“The Congress and the American people are very unprepared for the tsunami that is coming,” he said.

Khanna, a progressive Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, shared Sanders’s concerns, warning that the country was experiencing a “new gilded age” run by tech billionaires who believe “they would have been heroic conquerors in a different era”.

“That’s just not my observation,” Khanna said. “That’s what they tell me.”

Khanna and Sanders declined to specify which tech executives they met with during the senator’s visit to California, but the congressman said it was “senior leaders” at the “most prominent tech companies”.

“I think it was important for both Senator Sanders to hear from tech leaders and tech leaders to hear from Senator Sanders, who represents and understands the concerns of so many working-class Americans,” Khanna said in an interview after the event.

During his remarks, Sanders reissued his call for a moratorium on the expansion of AI data centers to “slow down the revolution and protect workers” while policymakers catch up.

Khanna does not want a moratorium, but has instead pushed to “steer” AI, advocating for the US to adopt a “Singapore model” for data center growth, with an emphasis on renewable energy and water efficiency. In his remarks before an auditorium of mostly students, Khanna outlined seven principles to guard against “oligarchic capture and dominance” of wealth generated by AI innovation.

“We must ask not what America can do for Silicon Valley, but what Silicon Valley must do for America,” said the congressman, who is eyed as considering a 2028 presidential bid.

The event capped a days-long visit to California, a state he won in the 2020 presidential primary and where he returned to rally thousands during his Fight Oligarchy tour last year. In Los Angeles on Wednesday, Sanders delivered a scathing denunciation of the “greed” of the billionaire class. There he helped formally launch a campaign for a ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% tax on residents worth more than $1bn – a proposal that has already prompted some ultra-wealthy tech leaders to flee, or threaten to do so.

At Stanford, Sanders focused his remarks on his concerns over how AI would impact not only the labor force but personal wellbeing and people’s ability to interact with one another. He mentioned that a restaurant in DC offered a Valentine’s Day special for people and their “AI buddies”, which drew laughs from the students.

It may seem funny, Sanders said, “but the truth is that a lot of people are becoming dependent upon AI for their emotional support. What is the long-term impact of that? What is the long-term impact if we lose work as an important part of our lives? What do we do with our lives?”

Sanders read statements from industry leaders who have predicted widespread automation, and cited projections that AI and robotics could eliminate tens of millions of jobs in the coming decade – from truck drivers to fast‑food workers and many white‑collar roles.

Polling has found Americans are deeply concerned, as federal regulators and states debate how to impose guardrails on the nascent but fast-developing technology. A 2025 Pew survey found that 64% of the public thinks AI “will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years”. Just 17% of Americans say “AI will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the United States” over the same period.

The tech CEOs leading the AI race have argued that AI will drive productivity, innovation and new kinds of employment as technological advancements have always done. But critics, like Sanders, say the “unprecedented” speed and scale of the changes threaten to enrich the “multibillionaires” while deepening inequality and leaving policymakers and the public ill-equipped to mount a response in time.

Sander urged his colleagues in Washington – and the public – to begin a serious public debate about the future of work as AI disrupts the economy, democracy and people’s emotional lives.

“AI and robotics are neither good nor bad,” he said. “The question is: will a handful of billionaires benefit from it, or will the general public benefit?”