Former President Barack Obama is pushing Democrats to develop a plan around artificial intelligence, saying the technology could be "dangerous" if not properly handled, according to multiple reports.
During comments at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser on Sept. 10, Obama said AI would be one of his "central agendas" if he were running for president in 2028, The New York Times, NBC News and POLITICO reported, citing a transcript of the remarks provided by his office.
"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. If we do get on top of it, I do think it's beneficial," he said, according to the outlets.
USA TODAY has reached out to Obama's office for
comment.
It came days after a former AI researcher sounded the alarm about the technology in a now-viral public warning that caught the attention of lawmakers in Congress.
The researcher, Jacob Coxon, said in a Sept. 8 post on X that "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."
Obama: Democrats should develop 'plan for safety' around AI
The former president made the remarks in conversation with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), saying he considers himself neither an "accelerationist" nor a "doomer," according to the reports.
"If I were running for president next year, this would be one of my central agendas, and I would have a very clear plan, and I would talk about this, and I would say, ‘Here’s our plan for safety, here’s our plan for making sure our kids are not corrupted by this,'" he said, per the outlets.
He also urged Jeffries and fellow Democrats in Congress to "put together a framework for a very public conversation" on the biggest issues around AI.
"I would be thinking about the economic impacts in very concrete ways and understanding what does it mean if there’s going to be job displacement," he added.
Anthropic CEO says to 'slow the pace' on AI improvements
Public fears about the risks of AI have continued to heighten, especially in the days since Coxon's plea.
On Sept. 10, Anthropic released a threat intelligence report revealing that several actors had used its Claude AI models for activities like weapons development, cyber operations and surveillance and fraud.
Two days later, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei released an essayurging tech companies to "slow the pace" of AI model improvements.
"Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain," Amodei said, outlining a three-step framework to pace development.
Elon Musk, CEO of xAI, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in respective posts on X that they agreed with Amodei.
AI fears heighten as Congress, Trump react
In Congress, several officeholders expressed concern about the lack of legislative action around AI.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) urged the legislative branch to convene a special session on AI advancements, saying in a social media post, "not enough of Congress is focusing on this." Similarly, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) wrote on X, "The call is coming from inside the house."
But Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has argued that AI developers, not Congress, bear responsibility for the technology's safety.
"If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American," he said during a Sept. 13 appearance on CNN.
In separate comments on the same day, President Donald Trump similarly pushed back on fears around AI.
"Whoever wins AI wins, and we can put guardrails, 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 and they're bringing up things that won't happen," Trump told reporters.
Contributing: Zachary Schermele, James Powel and Jay Stahl, USA TODAY; Reuters
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. Keep up with her on X @melinakh and Instagram @bymelinakhan.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Obama urges Democrats to prioritize AI policy
