According to Axios, Democratic presidential hopefuls are scrambling to respond to rising public backlash against AI, but none have gone as far as Sen. Bernie Sanders' call to halt the technology's development. Axios asked nearly 20 Democrats seen as potential 2028 White House contenders whether they support Sanders' call for AI CEOs to stop building machines humans cannot control, and only one answered directly. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel criticized the idea as a pause without a plan, while about half of the potential contenders did not respond, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Rep. Ro Khanna are the only potential 2028 candidates Axios said have expressed support for a pause on data centers, and several other Democrats have moved to show they are taking a harder line on the issue. The article said a recent Fox News poll found 70% of voters oppose building an AI data center in their community, and it noted that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last week the company has temporarily paused some technological training.