# The week AI doomerism went mainstream

> Bannon and Sanders now agree on one thing, and Washington still can't move fast enough to act on it.
- Title: The week AI doomerism went mainstream · Vox | Shortify
- Summary: Bannon and Sanders now agree on one thing, and Washington still can't move fast enough to act on it. There are three workable ways to slow AI down, and all…
- Keywords: ai safety, regulation, congress, anthropic, tech policy, news, culture, week, doomerism, went, mainstream, Vox
- Source: Vox — https://vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/502790/dario-amodei-ai-panic-regulations
- Author: Caitlin Dewey
- Published: 2026-09-14T21:25:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ai safety, regulation, congress, anthropic, tech policy, news, culture
## Bannon and Sanders, same stage
A right-wing provocateur and a progressive senator are teaming up over AI risk, joined by religious leaders, lawmakers, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
## A resignation lit the fuse
An Anthropic researcher quit publicly last week and said the people building these systems think the technology could kill everyone within the decade.

> earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade
## Not a fringe worry anymore
Over the weekend, leading AI researchers and executives said the technology is moving dangerously fast and asked for measures to rein it in.

> It sounds like science fiction. It is the stuff of science fiction. But it's not a fringe position.
## Trump is a hard no
Without the president, substantive AI rules have no path. He called the pushback a conspiracy on Truth Social and said only China benefits from it.

> There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one happy about it is China.
## Option one: ban it
Federal law could bar development of systems that exceed human performance, or pause that work until a new agency exists to watch over it.
## Option two: real auditors
A government agency, nonprofit, or industry body could review models before public release. Today's version is voluntary, secretive, and staffed by unclear expertise.
## Option three: make them pay
Congress could rewrite liability law so companies own the harm their systems and agents cause. A bankrupting lawsuit is a strong reason to slow down.
## The clock, not the law
All three options already have precedent in federal regulation. The obstacle is agreement, and one researcher fears the window closes while Congress argues.

> Washington, DC, moves far, far slower than Silicon Valley.
## Key takeaway

There are three workable ways to slow AI down, and all three are blocked by politics, not by law or technology.