Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon’s odd-couple alliance against AI holds at ‘Pro-Human’ conference

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon struck up an unlikely alliance at Tuesday’s artificial intelligence-skeptical “Pro-Human Assembly 2026,” which largely held despite notable disagreements over China.Bannon spoke directly after Sanders’s fiery denouncement of AI development and Big Tech leaders’ stranglehold over the revolutionary decisions involved in the matter. The right-wing firebrand held on to Sanders’ denunciations of tech “oligarchs,” using much of the same rhetoric. Near the conclusion of his speech, he openly acknowledged the awkward pairing of the two noted partisans, saying people would be hard-pressed to find two more different political figures, especially regarding their views of President Donald Trump. Despite this, he praised the senator’s speech and warnings about AI. “I think Sen. Sanders did a great job summarizing the risk,” he said.However, the juxtaposition of some of their differing stances was jarring to many audience members. The most obvious divergence was on China, which featured in part of Sanders’s speech and roughly half of Bannon’s speech.Sanders tapped into history to find optimism about the AI race against China, pointing to the diplomatic breakthroughs achieved by Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan on nuclear weapons despite their mutual distrust.“They understood that nuclear war would not be good for the Second Union, not be good for the United States, not be good for the world, and they came together for a nuclear treaty with the survival of humanity at stake,” Sanders said. “They found a way to sign that treaty, and I believe that we are at the moment in history that leaders of the United States and China must come together in a simple way to bring forth a ban on AI superintelligence.”He pointed to the upcoming summit of Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a prime opportunity to sign such a treaty.Less than 10 minutes later, Bannon unleashed on the prospect, devoting a vast swath of his speech to denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and calling any possible agreement with them futile.“Yes, I would like to have some international agreements with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “Not that they would ever live up to anything, particularly on something that’s deadly. I think that would be great. I also think it doesn’t matter.”“We have to shut down the Chinese Communist Party … put a quarantine around it. If we do that, and we can do it, and it’s insanity, insanity to me, why we just keep going on with the Chinese. The Chinese, to hell with the Chinese Communist Party. It is up to no good. We know that they steal everything to get their hands on. We can shut it down in 72 hours,” Bannon argued.Despite hypothetically saying he was open to an agreement with the CCP, he fully reversed his stance and said the United States can’t have any agreements with China.“And that’s what we have to do today to the Chinese Communist Party: no deals, no agreements. You’re out of the AI business because we’re going to shut your ecosystem down,” Bannon said.MELANIA TRUMP STRESSES LEADERSHIP AND STAYING ‘VIGILANT’ IN AI DEVELOPMENTSanders didn’t have a response since he had already spoken, but the obvious disagreement didn’t visibly appear to rupture the conference. Both Sanders and Bannon received sizable applause, though the room seemed more in Sanders’s favor.The rest of the conference reflected the aimed-for bipartisanship in its speaker choice. Progressive Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) and conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) also spoke back-to-back.