- Senator Bernie Sanders has told American oligarchs: “Go to hell”
- He joined union leaders in calling for greater worker protections against AI.
- Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez call for a pause in AI development
Senator Bernie Sanders told oligarchs to “go to hell” during a rally, where he joined union leaders to ask Congress for stronger protections for AI.
“AI and robotics are the most consequential and transformative technologies in human history,” Sanders said.
“What it means is that within 10 years, the idea of a manufacturing job will no longer exist,” Sanders continued, referring to Jeff Bezos’ plans for buy and automate factories throughout the United States.
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AI will cause “radical changes”
In a statement accompanying a In a video shared online, Sanders said: “The same oligarchs who sent jobs overseas now want to replace tens of millions of American workers with AI. Our message to them is: go to hell.”
The same oligarchs who sent jobs overseas now want to replace tens of millions of American workers with AI. Our message to them is: go to hell. https://t.co/PFmWEcmrMWApril 16, 2026
In the video, Sanders takes aim at Tesla, specifically Elon Musk’s plans to pivot the company to focus on robotics with the plan to build 100 million robots per year. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was also in Sanders’ crosshairs for his prediction that most administrative work will be fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months.
“We’re looking at sweeping changes for blue-collar workers, sweeping changes for white-collar workers,” Sanders said. “Do you know who is driving these technologies? The richest people in the world: Mr. Musk, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Ellison and others.” he added. “What they want to do is replace human workers.”
Newcomers to the job market, especially graduates, are finding it increasingly difficult to find employment as AI addresses tasks that most newcomers would perform upon entering white-collar industries. Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently said in an interview: “If you’re the kind of person who would have gone to Yale, with a classically high IQ, and you have generalized but non-specific knowledge, you’re screwed.”
Growing opposition to data centers
The fear that AI threatens jobs is not a view held solely by Sanders and the unions. Numerous surveys and polls have revealed that the American public is concerned about AI, especially the construction of new data centers on which AI models are based.
The sentiment is not limited to polls. Voter support for new data centers in Virginia has fallen from 69% in 2023 to 35% in 2026, and plans for one of the largest data centers ever conceived have been abandoned.
Half of a Missouri city council lost its re-election bid after approving a $6 billion data center, and Maine has become the first U.S. state to pass a ban on new data center construction.
Data Center Watch, a website run by 10a Labs that tracks opposition to data centers, has recorded that $156 billion in data center projects have been blocked in 2025, and opposition to new and existing projects is growing on a national scale.
In March, Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation to enact a pause on AI development to safeguard workers, energy prices, and the health and well-being of the American public.
“We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy, and the future of humanity,” Sanders said after the legislation was announced. “We need serious public debate and democratic oversight on this hugely consequential issue. Now is the time to act. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centers.”
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