Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has called on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress amid a robotics push.

Declaration Of War

In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday, the Senator criticized Bezos’s efforts to scale physical AI and robotics. “Jeff Bezos, worth $233 billion, wants to raise $100 billion to replace factory workers with robots,” Sanders said in the post. He then went on to call the move a “declaration of war” against the working-class population.

Sanders called on Bezos to explain what would happen when “millions lose their jobs,” and how people would survive without a source of income.

Bernie Sanders’ Letter

He also shared a letter on Monday, calling on Bezos to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

“We must demand that Mr. Bezos come before our committee to explain to the American people why he believes it's a good idea to replace millions of American workers with robots,” he wrote in the letter, asking if Bezos would provide severance to the workers being replaced and whether the workers would enjoy healthcare benefits.

“Our job is to ensure that this new technology benefits working families and is not simply used as another tool to make the wealthiest people in the world unimaginably richer,” Sanders wrote.

Bernie Sanders Vs Jeff Bezos

The Senator had earlier criticized Bezos after reports emerged that the billionaire was planning to raise over $100 billion to automate factories across the country. “We cannot allow the wealthiest people in the world to go to war against the working class of America. We’ve got to organize. We got to fight back,” Sanders said.

This comes as industry stakeholders have warned that the application of AI could result in widespread job losses in the U.S. The effects have already been felt across the tech industry, with Jack Dorsey-led Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) announcing it was cutting 4,000 jobs, which made up for roughly 40% of its workforce, as it adopts AI into workflows.

Atlassian Corp (NASDAQ:TEAM) also announced over 1,600 layoffs amid a pivot towards AI. The 1,600 jobs, which represent various employees across the world, also make up over 10% of the company’s workforce.

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