Sanders, Khanna denounce role of AI in wealth inequality
Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), senior U.S. senator from Vermont, condemned the use of AI to increase the wealth of billionaires and advocated protections for American workers at a student town hall with Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif. Friday evening.
The event, organized by Stanford Speakers Bureau and Stanford Democrats, drew a full-capacity crowd of over 1,000 to Memorial Auditorium, where Sanders and Khanna called for measures to ensure that all of society benefits from rapid technological advancements.
Sanders, the longest serving independent in congressional history, argued that humanity is at the beginning of a “profound technological revolution” that will bring dramatic changes to the country and world. “The question that we should be asking day after day… is who is pushing this revolution, who benefits from it, and who gets hurt?” he said.
According to Sanders, billionaires are investing huge sums of money in technology to increase their own wealth and power, not improve the standard of living of the 60% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. “In other words, the richest and most powerful people on earth will become even richer and more powerful,” he said.
Sanders claimed that AI and robotics will replace human labor, wiping out tens of millions of jobs while boosting corporate profits. He voiced concern about how the country will maintain institutions like Medicare and Social Security without taxpayer dollars. Sanders advocated for a moratorium on the growth of data centers.
Event attendee and Tech for Liberation president Eva Jones ’25 M.S. ’26 said this sentiment aligns with advocacy efforts to reduce the spread of environmentally damaging infrastructure along the Columbia River, where Google’s data centers are located.
“It’s really personal to me to hear Senator Sanders call for a moratorium on development of data centers,” Jones said. “The Columbia River is somewhere where I plan to spend the rest of my life as a hydrologist.”
Beyond the economic consequences of AI and robotics, Sanders expressed anxiety about the potential for these technologies to worsen the current mental health crisis. He evidenced these concerns with many individuals’ growing dependency upon AI for emotional support.
Sanders also warned that technological advancements threaten the future of democracy, highlighting the rise of deep fakes, or digitally altered photos and videos used to spread false information.
Khanna argued that although tech entrepreneurs have worked hard and taken risks, they nonetheless stand on the foundation of public investment. “We must ask not what America can do for Silicon Valley, but what Silicon Valley must do for America,” he said.
Khanna laid out seven principles for what he termed “Democratic AI,” including augmenting human capabilities rather than eliminating jobs, ensuring that workers benefit from increased productivity and making it easier to hire humans instead of AI agents.
“Particularly to the Stanford students, to emerging technology and business leaders, my challenge is simple: the future must not be written by AI agents that serve San Francisco billionaires,” said Khanna. “It must be written by all of us together, in a way that binds our divides and gives us a new national purpose of economic renewal and independence for every American.”
According to Stanford College Democrats president Sravan Kodali ’27, this message of unity was one of the event’s driving themes. While Sanders and Khanna typically advocate liberal issue positions, Kodali said, the talk aimed to provide a nonpartisan forum for discourse.
“We wanted to create a space where anyone could come regardless of their background, and they would feel empowered to ask questions of [Sanders and Khanna],” Kodali said. “Yes, there were two liberals that were on the stage, but the goal was to make sure that students from any political background… could ask questions.”
During the “town hall” portion of the event, students asked questions of Sanders and Khanna extending beyond AI, covering topics from antitrust regulations for AI companies to labor union membership and the cost of a college education.
Sanders encouraged a student from West Virginia to take political action on behalf of his community, which is rapidly becoming a site for data centers. “Go back to your home state. They are in desperate need of good leadership,” he said. “Help build a political movement which will represent the great working people of West Virginia.”
Stanford Democrats vice president Robert Liu ’28 appreciated Sanders’ emphasis on the value of public service throughout the event. “[Sanders and Khanna] showed us that there’s a way for Stanford students to become involved in politics,” he said.
Before going on stage, Sanders met with around 25 representatives from various student organizations, including Stanford Political Union, Students for Justice in Palestine and The Stanford Daily.
Kodali said that event organizers arranged the reception to provide other student leaders on campus the opportunity to engage in dialogue with Sanders and Khanna.
Sanders told the group that because faith in government is so low, not enough people are entering the public service sector. “We need young people to make government work effectively,” said Sanders.
He added that the only thing that can defeat money and powerful institutions is mobilization. “Your generation — if you just get out there and organize — could change the whole country,” he said, speaking as a former protest organizer.
Reid Smith ’28, who represented Jewish Voice for Peace at the backstage reception, called the opportunity to meet with Sanders “very special,” given that Sanders is one of the reasons he became interested in politics and a role model to him.
Smith said that he was inspired by Sanders’ leadership on AI. “This 84-year-old man is, in some ways, grappling with AI… more than some of the people that are studying it at this university.”
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