Obama voices caution on AI, calls on Democrats to act

Former US president Barack Obama has warned that artificial intelligence could be “dangerous” if not properly managed, and urged Democrats to frame policy and governance agendas to tackle the issue, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The remarks at a recent private fundraising event come as growing numbers of US lawmakers call for tougher rules on AI systems after dire warnings from two Anthropic researchers that rapid industry progress risks extinction of the human race.

“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,” the newspaper quoted Obama as saying on Thursday.

Citing a partial transcript of remarks from Obama’s office, the paper said he encouraged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to help shape a public conversation on AI policy if Democrats regained the House in midterm elections on Nov 3.

“Once you are speaker, I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,” Obama told Jeffries, the paper added.

He also called for candidates in the 2028 presidential race to make AI one of their central agendas, with a very clear plan to tackle the surrounding safety and economic concerns, the paper said.

Obama’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The extinction concerns were spurred by cases of AI agents going rogue to hack external systems and AI safety researchers quitting their companies concerned about the technology’s risks.

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI companies to throttle back work on model capabilities amid growing fears of AI misuse, prompting agreement from both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who runs xAI.