Obama urges Democrats to have a ‘clear plan’ for AI safeguards

Former President Barack Obama recently said that Democrats need to make artificial intelligence one of their “central agendas” and “have a very clear plan” to address concerns around the technology’s economic impact and safety, according to The New York Times.

Obama made these comments on Thursday, at Democratic fundraising event where he was interviewed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The NYT says that Obama’s office provided a partial transcript of the event, at which Jeffries asked Obama how congressional Democrats should approach AI.

In response, Obama said that once Democrats regain the House majority, they need to “put together a framework for a very public conversation.”

“This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” Obama added. “If we do get on top of it, I do think it’s beneficial. I genuinely think it’s going to accelerate, for example, drug development in ways that can help us cure diseases.”

In a statement, Jeffries said the former president “is correct that decisive action must be taken on artificial intelligence.” Jeffries also said that “Republicans have abdicated their responsibility to govern on behalf of the American people.”

The NYT also reports that Obama has offered himself as a “sounding board” to AI executives and has spoken to both Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. His comments come amidst growing concern around AI safety, particularly after an AI researcher resigned from Anthropic and claimed the leading AI companies are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” 

On Saturday, Amodei outlined a broad approach to “pacing the frontier,” which would include giving independent safety evaluators access to leading AI companies and models, as well as developing “common safety standards” between companies. In social media posts, Altman and SpaceX CEO Musk seemed to respond positively to Amodei’s plan, with Altman saying that OpenAI would also commit to “having independent evaluators with employee-like access.”

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, discussed AI safety concerns with reporters at an Irish golf event on Sunday. Bloomberg reports that Trump boasted that the United States is “the most sophisticated country in the world,” adding that he wants “to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins.” (Earlier this year, the Trump administration released a legislative framework for AI that would preempt state laws and shift the child safety burden to parents.)

“And we can put guardrails,” Trump said. “We can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up.”

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