Vox Populi
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Senator Bernie Sanders: I spoke to AI agent Claude
Running time: 9 minutes
I spoke to Anthropic’s AI agent Claude about AI collecting massive amounts of personal data and how that information is being used to violate our privacy rights.
What an AI agent says about the dangers of AI is shocking and should wake us up.
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Overview
In March 2026, Senator Bernie Sanders engaged in a widely viewed conversation with Claude, an AI agent developed by Anthropic, to discuss the risks of artificial intelligence, massive personal data collection, and privacy violations. The video, posted to his social media channels, highlighted how AI is used to build detailed profiles of Americans, often without their knowledge or informed consent.
Here are the key points from the interaction and Bernie Sanders’ stance on AI:
- Conversation with Claude: Sanders asked Claude how personal data is used to violate privacy. Claude explained that companies collect data—including how long a user pauses on a webpage—to build detailed profiles, which are then used to predict behavior and charge different prices, a concept known as “surveillance pricing”.
- Purpose of Data Collection: When asked by Sanders why so much data is collected, Claude replied that it is for profit and manipulating consumer behavior.
- Political Manipulation: The AI explained that political campaigns use the same data infrastructure to persuade individuals with tailored messaging, raising concerns that AI threatens democracy.
- AI as “Profound Revolution”: Sanders has characterized AI and robotics as the beginning of the most profound technological revolution in history.
- “Pause” on Data Centers: Following meetings with tech leaders, Sanders warned that Congress is not prepared for the rapid advancement of AI. He has proposed a moratorium on building new AI data centers, arguing they strain the grid and that AI could eliminate millions of jobs.
- Focus on Workers’ Rights: Sanders has argued that AI development must be aimed at benefiting workers and society, not just increasing the wealth of a few billionaires.
The conversation was part of a larger, ongoing effort by Sanders to warn about the “tsunami” of AI advancements and their impact on employment and human privacy.
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I’m horrified by the speed with which AI is being expanded without thought beyond profit on the part of its developers. The costs in terms of the development of human thinking, the preservation of human values, and the preservation of the physical environment of the earth are beyond human imagination at this time. I am glad that Bernie Sanders at least is asking some hard questions. I don’t trust the chatbot’s responses to Senator Sanders’ questions, articulate and responsive as it seems. It is doing the bidding of its creator. It is also trying to please the “customer.”
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Valid points, Penelope. I share your concerns.
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As someone with five titles for which Anthropic is committed to “reimburse” me; and as an online consumer who has never routinely given permission for the use of my responses to sites, I’m less shocked by Sanders’ interview than others who have responded here. I’m encouraged, in fact, to see the reversal on Claude’s part…provided it hasn’t been misrepresented or manipulated. The challenge that remains is for legislators to ACT on what Claude and my dear Bernie have agreed on! A moratorium is urgently needed NOW!
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Bernie is right. Claude is right. But there’s too much money at stake for the tech bros (or their bought politicians) to stop development of AI now. We’re going to have to learn to live with, or avoid, AI.
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Bernie isn’t proposing the END of AI, something Claude and its creators are unlikely to approve. His suggestion is a MORATORIUM, which if framed and limited appropriately, just might work for all…?
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Any slowdown in the development of AI would be good, I think.
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Started
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I love Bernie but I haven’t talked to AI much. Does it really sound like it takes a breath between “thoughts”? I don’t believe Bernie would do something sneaky so this really shook me up. For someone who used to run a computer software company I have become naive about AI. I think I will go read When Harley was 1 and When H Arlen was 1 version 2.0 again. Seems we also should have stated all this with Azimov’s rules for robotics. ( I may be mixing up my science fiction. It was all I read for fun in my youth. )
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Yes, the SF writers have been warning us for decades that the robots would take over, and here we are.
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Recently rewatched movie Ex Machina on Netflix; great movie with critical warnings. Go Bernie, go!
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Terminator 1 and 2 are among my favorite films, but I never guessed they’d come true.
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I find this so horrifying, particularly as nobody seems to be interested in setting up any kind of legal boundaries to protect people. The salacious focus on people’s private lives is nauseating, so much can be misleading, inaccurate, and just plain lies. Why is this not of concern in any government mind. I’m not going to dignify that comment with a question mark!!! Or even comment on the word “mind”…
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Yes, I’m horrified as well.
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That.
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