Sanders-Casar Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act (2026)

Federal legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Tex., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus), provided first to the Associated Press and unveiled Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Reported provisions: (1) permanent prohibition on artificial superintelligence, defined as a system exceeding human cognitive ability or having sufficient capabilities to plan and execute the destruction or disempowerment of humanity; (2) temporary pause on development of the most advanced AI systems until federal safety rules are established; (3) creation of a Department of Artificial Intelligence; (4) federal pre-deployment approval for advanced AI systems; (5) penalties including up to 20 years' imprisonment in some cases. Endorsed by some current AI-company employees (e.g., an OpenAI Safety Systems researcher; a Google DeepMind engineer speaking personally). The Next Web (Sept. 25, 2026) names the bill the 'Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act', says the section-by-section summary defines the paused advanced systems as those trained on 10^25 or more operations, and reports a 'corporate death penalty' (loss of charter, forfeiture of IP/assets) for companies. AP: bill faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress. NOT ESTABLISHED: bill numbers, committee referral, cosponsors.