Waldensians everywhere have been giving a lot of thought to AI, Artificial Intelligence. Two weeks ago, the American Waldensian Society reported on a new statement from Italian Baptists, Methodists, and Waldensians entitled “Artificial Intelligence: A Protestant Perspective.” This statement was intended as a preliminary exploration of some of the critical ethical and theological issues raised by Artificial Intelligence. Since then, a number of Waldensians and their friends have communicated their personal perspectives and concerns.
On August 10, Bernie Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, pictured below, decided the time was right to speak out about AI. He sent a message speaking directly to the leaders of the three largest companies currently working on AI. His thoughts will be interesting to members of the American Waldensian Society as well as to others who have been concerned about recent developments in Artificial Intelligence. Senator Bernie Sanders’ message follows below:
This week we learned, frighteningly, that AI has been used for the first time ever to create new viruses. As you know this type of development, in the wrong hands, could lead to new bioweapons that result in the deaths of tens of millions of people.
Last month, the world found out OpenAI lost control of an AI model. The result? The model hacked into another company’s computers—a clear violation of federal law. After conducting internal reviews, Anthropic and Meta reported their models similarly escaped their control.
One of the targeted companies called the AI hack “an unprecedented event” that deserves an “unprecedented response.” Yoshua Bengio, the most cited living scientist in the world, said these incidents “should serve as a wake-up call.”
I agree.
So do the very people building this technology. As you know, these technology leaders recently called for the international community to create a safety mechanism—a pause button—to avoid catastrophe. They warned there is a “real risk that capability development rapidly accelerates beyond our ability to understand or control the resulting systems.”
And yet, at a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses, AI companies are still racing ahead— investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control.
That is absurd, irresponsible, and extremely dangerous. It is also a betrayal of the AI companies’ own stated commitments:
• In 2023, Anthropic said it would “commit to pause the scaling and/or delay the deployment of new models whenever our scaling ability outstrips our ability to comply with. . . safety procedures.”
• In 2025, Meta said “if a frontier AI is assessed to have reached the critical risk threshold and cannot be mitigated, we will stop development.”
• That same year, OpenAI said it would “halt further development” until strong safeguards were in place if AI capabilities ever reached a “critical” threshold.
That moment is here. AI capabilities HAVE reached a critical threshold. There is a reason why the head of the CIA says that AI models are “akin to digital nuclear weapons” and “almost like a doomsday device.”
I say to Mr. Altman, Mr. Amodei and Mr. Zuckerberg, the leaders of the AI companies: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control.
Many members of the American Waldensian Society, perhaps even a majority, are also members of various congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The First Presbyterian Church in Corvallis, and the First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon, have just posted an interesting and playful video created by the Rev. Dr. David R. Barstow, that offers still another perspective on AI.
Would you like to respond to this or any other AWS e-blast? The American Waldensian Society would love to know how you think the Church should respond to the challenge of Artificial Intelligence. Please use the reply button to send your thoughts to the American Waldensian Society.
Do you know someone who might like to receive a weekly email update about Waldensians and their work worldwide? If so, please reply to this address with their name and email address. There is never any charge for receiving American Waldensian Society updates.
