Barack Obama, Kamala Harris call for government action on AI development

By Arlette Saenz, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday were among the latest high-profile Democrats to call for greater government action to address artificial intelligence as some industry leaders call for a slowdown in the technology’s development amid growing public concern.

“We need government – and specifically our leaders in Washington – to get proactive in coming up with concrete proposals, laws and regulations that deal with serious safety concerns, anticipate AI’s impact on jobs and our kids, and make sure that AI’s benefits are widely spread,” Obama said in a statement Monday night. “Given what we know about technology, we can’t stuff AI back in a box. But we can collectively determine how it’s developed and how it’s used, rather than sitting back and letting AI and its fallout happen to us.”

The debate around artificial intelligence has ramped up in recent days, with some politicians and tech executives calling for greater government regulation of the industry while President Donald Trump has deemed the concerns about AI a “HOAX” and part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

In a sign of the issue’s political potency, Obama, speaking at a private fundraiser alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, last week urged Democrats, including those considering running for president in 2028, to put AI at the center of their agendas.

Harris, who is seen as a possible 2028 contender after falling short of winning the presidency in 2024, chimed in on Monday with support for a slowdown to allow regulation to catch up with the technology.

“The frontier of artificial intelligence is advancing at an alarming speed. Over the weekend, industry leaders voiced support for an idea that the American people and many AI researchers in their own labs have been calling for: We must responsibly slow the pace of frontier AI development,” she said on X. “A slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest.”

Harris called for Congress to establish a federal oversight agency and urged Trump, her former rival, to work towards an international treaty to address AI.

“The United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards,” she said. “This means that the president must do his job to protect America’s interests by pursuing a treaty with countries like China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development, and adopt global standards for testing.”

Trump, however, has fiercely rejected calls for a slowdown or increased regulation in a series of social media posts in recent days downplaying safety concerns and hyping up the need to stay competitive with China.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump said on Monday. “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.”

Trump’s stance appears to be at odds with the growing public concerns about AI’s development. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned a lengthy essay calling for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday, Amodei called on industry leaders to work together to avoid “the wrong paths” and the possibility of AI harming humanity.

Both Obama and Harris acknowledged the immense potential of the technology on Monday but underscored the need to pace development.

“I’m not an AI accelerationist who believes it will lead to some techno-utopia, and I’m not a doomer who thinks it will inevitably lead to humanity’s destruction,” the former president said. “But whether this technology results in amazing breakthroughs in medicine, energy and education or unleashes huge economic disruptions, greater inequality, and potential catastrophe will depend on the choices that we make right now – choices that should be made not just by the companies involved, but by all of us.”

Pete Buttigieg, a former Transportation secretary whose name is also in the mix for 2028, has also emphasized the stakes of the technology and over the weekend argued that the government need to address AI “head on.”

“AI is moving quickly. And for Congress to just sit on its hands, for the White House to do nothing real is something that is deeply dangerous to the American people and the world,” Buttigieg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There need to be safeguards. There need to be rules. There need to be limits. There needs to be a kill switch on rogue AI. You can set up frameworks that can be adjusted and changed every 30 days.”

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This headline and story have been updated with additional remarks from Obama.