Ro Khanna backs AI safety bill banning recursive self-improving technology

Rep. Ro Khanna wants to make sure AI doesn’t start upgrading itself without asking permission first. The California Democrat, who serves as the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, has been championing a ban on recursive self-improving AI models, the kind of systems that can enhance their own capabilities without human intervention. His push isn’t happening in a vacuum. It comes alongside the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, introduced on September 23 by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar, which Khanna has publicly supported. That bill proposes penalties of up to 20 years in prison and what’s being called a “corporate death penalty” for violations. What recursive self-improving AI actually means Recursive self-improving AI refers to systems that can autonomously modify and enhance their own architecture or training processes without a human pressing any buttons along the way. Khanna has warned specifically about the potential loss of human control over such systems, framing it as one of the more pressing existential risks in the current AI landscape. His proposed solut...