Immediately after their victory in the 2026 midterm elections, some Democratic lawmakers are calling for a halt to advanced AI development and prioritizing a complete ban on "artificial super intelligence" (SI).

Arizona Democratic Congressman Yassamin Ansari declared on Previously, Ms. Ansari had emphasized that Congress needed to act urgently in the same way as regulating airplanes, drugs, cars or nuclear weapons.

This idea is not new. On September 23, Senator Bernie Sanders (independent, Vermont) and Congressman Greg Casar (Democrat, Texas) introduced a bill to ban artificial super intelligence. Accordingly, this bill proposes:

• Completely ban the development or deployment of artificial super intelligence. SI is defined as an AI system that is superior to human cognitive abilities in most fields or has enough capacity to plan and execute acts of destruction or depriving humanity of control.
• Pause development of advanced AI systems until a new federal regulatory agency is established and promulgates model evaluation rules and procedures.
• Establishment of the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the cabinet level. This department is responsible for monitoring the frontier models, eliminating dangerous capabilities, such as the ability to bypass shutdown commands, and protecting the public.
• Set strict penalties: Violators can face up to 20 years in prison. Enterprises that deliberately avoid it may be sentenced to death and forced dissolution.
• The bill also targets international agreements to prevent the development of super intelligence anywhere in the world.

It should be noted that this bill is still at the proposal stage and has not yet been passed. President Trump has veto power.

The debate about AI is heating up strongly in the US, with one side concerned about existential risks (including from some technology leaders themselves) and the other side emphasizing competition with China and economic potential. With Democrats in control of the new Congress, pressure to regulate AI - especially advanced models and data centers, is likely to increase in the near term.