Sanders Introduces Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act with Up to 20 Years in Prison

On September 24, US Senator Bernie Sanders (co-sponsored by Greg Casar) formally introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would permanently prohibit the development or deployment of "super artificial intelligence" — defined as systems that surpass human cognitive abilities in most domains, or are powerful enough to cause catastrophic consequences. Violators could face up to 20 years in prison, and the bill would also create a US "Department of AI." This is a rare piece of ASI-targeted legislation at the US congressional level.

Confirmed

• Sanders officially introduced the bill on September 24; its core provision permanently bans the development and deployment of superintelligent AI, with violators facing up to 20 years in prison.
• The bill was co-sponsored by Sanders and Greg Casar and includes the establishment of a "Department of AI."
• On Polymarket, the odds for the market "US passes an AI safety bill before 2027" stand at just 13%, with around $165,000 in volume (per a Polymarket post).

Unconfirmed

• Some analysis (of a draft PDF relayed by @1a3orn) suggests the bill bans not only superintelligence itself but also any system exhibiting "superintelligence precursor character" — a definition under which much of today's AI might already be covered. This interpretation is an analysis of draft text and remains to be tested in the legislative process.

Why it matters

• The bill is one of the most aggressive congressional legislative attempts targeting frontier AI; if the "precursor character" provision were enacted, it could directly restrict the development and deployment of mainstream large models.
• Community reactions are polarized: developer Kye Gomez sarcastically suggested banning "senators who are worse than 2022 LLMs" first, and prediction markets are pricing its passage probability notably low.

2026-09-23 ~ 2026-09-24 · 7 related posts

Full story(9 episodes)→

• Episode 1: Sanders Bill Would Permanently Ban Superintelligence, With Up to 20 Years in Prison(2026-09-04, 21 posts)
• Episode 2: Sanders: Rogue Superintelligence Is All Humanity's Problem(2026-09-04, 3 posts)
• Episode 3: UK Parliament Sees World's First Anti-Superintelligence Bill as US Follows Suit(2026-09-08, 8 posts)
• Episode 4: Sanders Moves to Ban Superintelligence, Sparking AI Debate(2026-09-09, 3 posts)
• Episode 5: 71 UK Lawmakers Back Bill to Ban Superintelligent AI(2026-09-12, 10 posts)
• Episode 6: Viral Claim: Sanders AI Bill Would Jail Frontier AI Developers Up to 20 Years(2026-09-12, 12 posts)
• Episode 7: Sanders Proposes Bill to Ban Superintelligence and Pause Advanced AI(2026-09-12, 2 posts)
• Episode 8: Sanders Proposes 20-Year Prison Terms for ASI Developers(2026-09-14, 2 posts)
• Episode 9: Sanders Introduces Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act with Up to 20 Years in Prison(2026-09-23, 7 posts)

• [source] Sen. Sanders Unveils Bill to Ban Artificial Superintelligence and Create US 'Department of AI' — KyeGomezB · 2026-09-23
• Sanders and Casar introduce Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act to pause advanced AI — ZeroStateReflex · 2026-09-24
• [source] Analysis: Sanders' AI ban bill could cover most existing models via 'precursor' clause — 1a3orn · 2026-09-24
• 'Just Ban AI' Returns to the Legislative Menu With 'Superintelligence Precursor' Prohibition — 1a3orn · 2026-09-24
• [source] Bernie Sanders introduces bill to permanently ban superintelligent AI, with up to 20 years in prison — Polymarket · 2026-09-24
• Bernie Sanders unveils Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act with up to 20-year prison terms — elonmusk · 2026-09-24

1 near-duplicate retellings: Polymarket