--- title: "Bernie Sanders Issues Warning About AI: “You Will Be Out on the Street”" description: "Bernie Sanders warns that the rise of AI combined with Elon Musk's despotic management could result in toxic attacks on workers." date: "2025-03-06" modified: "2025-03-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/bernie-sanders-issues-warning-about-elon-musks-plans-for-ai-you-will-be-out-on-the-street" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "bernie sanders" - "doge" - "elon musk" - "Unemployment" --- # Bernie Sanders Issues Warning About AI: “You Will Be Out on the Street” ![Bernie Sanders warns that the rise of AI combined with Elon Musk's despotic management could result in toxic attacks on workers.]() *\Image: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images\* For years now, experts have been warning that AI automation could lead to huge [numbers of people losing their jobs](). Whether those fears will come to fruition is still a matter of debate as even the most advanced AI continues to struggle with persistent issues around accuracy and reasoning. But what's becoming increasingly clear is that, among tech leaders, the *vision* for the industry is that it will displace large numbers of workers — a prospect we're already seeing hints of as tech giants [invest heavily in the tech]() while [laying off thousands](). A related ideology is on display as Donald Trump megadonor Elon Musk has been ransacking the federal government, [laying off thousands of workers](). Add it all up, and representative Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is warning that the rise of AI combined with Musk's despotic management style could result in a toxic attack on workers that remakes society around the interests of billionaires. "Think about it for a moment," Sanders said in a [video]() response to Trump's Congressional address on Tuesday night. "If Musk and his friends can arbitrarily throw federal workers out on the street today, what do you think that Musk and his fellow billionaires will be doing tomorrow when artificial intelligence and robotics explode in this country?" "Do you think they'll give a damn about you and your families?" he added. "No, they will treat you exactly the way they're treating federal employees today. You will be out on the street as well." According to the latest numbers, the US labor market is in dire straits. Employers [announced over 172,000 layoffs last month](), according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas — the highest level in almost five years. A third of those layoffs came directly from DOGE. The forecast is grim. Total job losses are expected to top half a million people by the end of 2025, as [*Bloomberg* reports](), which could have catastrophic effects on the economy as a whole. Such a big wave in unemployment could have [disastrous effects on the economy](), and the reality is that AI has barely started to scratch the surface of the outsize promises of its boosters. Sanders' comments resonate, in other words. The [vindictiveness]() with which Musk has been plundering federal agencies has [closely resembled]() the way he treats workers at his own businesses as well, where he's garnered a reputation for being a "horrible boss" who incessantly [cracks the whip](), forces his workers to [sleep on the factory floor](), and threatens them with firing if they don't work overtime. Even the AI part isn't a stretch. Musk's DOGE has already started applying AI tools to [analyze government spending]() and [fed highly sensitive data]() extracted from the Education Department into a similar system. So it's alarming to think of that dictatorial philosophy spreading even further at the exact moment that the capabilities of AI are coming in strong. **More on DOGE:** *[You Can See When Elon Musk Actually Sleeps by Analyzing His Tweets, and It's Terrifying]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()