Socialists Are the New Luddites, And They May Have a Point

Sen. Bernie Sanders released a video yesterday calling for a moratorium on the construction of new data centers. His pitch is that AI is being created and promoted by multi-billionaires, who are always the villains in his take on the world. He asks viewers this question: “Do you believe that these guys, these multi-billionaires are staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?” Sanders answers his own question, saying, “I think these very rich men want even more wealth and more power and for a whole bunch of reasons that is very dangerous.” Here’s the video:

I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering the unregulated sprint to develop & deploy AI.

The moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up, and ensure that the benefits of technology work for all of us, not just the 1%. pic.twitter.com/PoV5ziA4oQ

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 16, 2025

Regular readers know I’m not a fan of Bernie’s politics. In fact, I detest socialism with a passion and I generally shrug off complaints about the wealthy as the politics of envy.

In this case, I still don’t agree with Sanders but I think he does have a legitimate point. After all, the people he’s quoting in that video, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, aren’t know-nothing outsiders. It’s literally the people who know this field who are warning that it has the potential to replace a lot of workers. That’s not a worst case scenario in their view, it’s the desired outcome of AI reaching a point referred to as artificial general intelligence.