\u201cThis is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don\u2019t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,\u201d Obama said at the fundraiser Thursday, according to a partial transcript of his remarks provided by his office. \u201cIf we do get on top of it, I do think it\u2019s beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> at the New-York Historical Society in Manhattan, Obama said he is neither a \u201cdoomer\u201d nor an \u201caccelerationist.\u201d His remarks come amid increasing alarm over the technology\u2019s advance, with executives at two of the country\u2019s leading AI labs joining Elon Musk in calling for slowing its development<\/a>, following months and years<\/a> of cries from within the industry<\/a> for government to act.<\/p>\n

Obama said AI development would be \u201cone of my central agendas\u201d if he were running for president, throwing down a gauntlet as the shadow 2028 Democratic primary debate responded to the AI leaders\u2019 calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have a very clear plan, and I would talk about this, and I would say, here\u2019s our plan for safety, here\u2019s our plan for making sure our kids are not corrupted by this,\u201d Obama said, according to excerpts of his remarks shared with Blue Light News by his office and first reported<\/a>by The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Among the top concerns, Obama said: \u201cI would be thinking about the economic impacts in very concrete ways and understanding what does it mean if there\u2019s going to be job displacement. Where is that going to hit? How are we going to respond? Are there going to be limits to the amount of displacement that can take place? What is that going to mean for our social safety net? If it turns out that you\u2019ve got a lot more people who can\u2019t find full-time work because they\u2019ve been rendered redundant, how are we going to respond?\u201d<\/p>\n

He also called for Congress to take action, telling Jeffries that Democrats should \u201cput together a framework for a very public conversation\u201d centered on the biggest issues.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s remarks mark a larger shift for both himself and the Democratic Party writ large: He governed as a tech-friendly Democrat, who broke POTUS tech barriers by having a laptop and iPad<\/a> while in office and whose 2011 town hall at Facebook headquarters<\/a> was widely seen as typifying the administration\u2019s friendliness with Silicon Valley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Obama era was also known for Washington\u2019s failure to confront the growing monopolization of power in the tech industry, most famously in the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s 2013 decision not to file an antitrust lawsuit<\/a> against Google. (The first Trump Justice Department later filed such a suit seven years later.)<\/p>\n

Already on Sunday, at least two potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates addressed the issue of slowing the pace of cutting-edge AI development, or otherwise keeping their products from launching pandemics or cyberattacks.<\/p>\n

Speaking on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Democrats need to \u201caddress it head on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be safeguards. There need to be rules. There need to be limits. There needs to be a kill switch on rogue AI,\u201d Buttigieg said, criticizing congressional Republicans and the White House for not moving quicker to rein in AI development.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has gone from courting AI investment<\/a> to pumping the brakes<\/a> on data center development, posted to X<\/a> Sunday that it\u2019s \u201clong past time for our federal government to step up, take this seriously, and put up some guardrails \u2014 both here at home and on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The calls for \u201csome guardrails\u201d are still much milder than the proposals coming from the far left of the Democratic caucus, including the proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar<\/a> (D-Texas) to pause the development of advanced AI models<\/a> and permanently ban \u201c artificial superintelligence<\/a>.\u201d And Obama\u2019s remarks underscore the leadership vacuum in a Democratic Party that remains in the wilderness after brutal 2024 losses and continues to struggle to unify around a policy agenda.<\/p>\n

In a portion of his remarks, Obama acknowledged the lack of high-level leadership on the AI issue, saying that \u201cpart of the job for us is to give people a reason to believe again in the idea of the democratic project, the American project, the economy that works for everyone, opportunity for every kid, to reassure people that if we work together, we can deliver those things. That\u2019s hard to do without somebody in the White House to lead the charge, but I do think that people are ready for that message.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed any worries about AI posing an existential threat, telling reporters last week<\/a> that he\u2019s mainly worried about beating China to dominate the technology.<\/p>\n

Obama compared AI to other \u201cdangerous technologies like nuclear power,\u201d but added that it did not have the same \u201cnatural\u201d and “physical constraints\u201d on it that is not \u201cunder state control.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Congress, House and Senate lawmakers have sought to advance legislation to slow down or impose limits on AI development, so far without success. One key Senate proposal, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/a> (D-Minn.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a>, faces an uncertain future<\/a> because of differences over how to impose a legal duty on Silicon Valley companies that would hold them liable for harms their models cause. Another contentious issue is whether the legislation should preempt state from imposing their own AI laws.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson <\/a>said Sunday morning he would support talks<\/a> with tech leaders on AI but insisted that developers \u2014 not Congress \u2014 are primarily responsible for ensuring their products are safe.<\/p>\n

As lawmakers campaign in their districts ahead of the midterm elections, they are fighting to<\/a> own the messaging<\/a> as voters sour on data centers and the impact of AI systems on jobs and education, among other key areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"