Barack Obama says the Democratic Party needs a “clear” plan for AI.

The New York Times reports that the former president spoke at a private fundraising event in Manhattan with party donors and lawmakers. He suggested actions the party should take if it wins the House in the upcoming midterm elections. Specifically, Obama advised House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to establish a framework for a public conversation on AI policy.

Obama himself said he is neither an “accelerationist” nor a “doomer” when it comes to AI, according to the outlet. Still, he notes that it could be threatened by bad actors or unfairly guided in private hands, especially given how accessible the technology is and, unlike “nuclear power, you don’t need a bunch of highly enriched uranium to use or build it.” At the same time, he acknowledged the technology’s potential to drive innovation and lead to a better future.

“This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think it can be dangerous,” Obama said, according to The New York Times. “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. I do think that this can help us figure out pathways for a clean energy future.”

Obama also noted the Democratic Party’s candidates for the 2028 presidential race should “have a very clear plan” for AI when it comes to safety, impact on children, and its challenges to the economy, the outlet reports.

“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, if it turns out that you’ve got a lot more people who can’t find full-time work because they’ve been rendered redundant. How are we going to respond?” Obama said, according to The New York Times.

Jeffries agrees with Obama’s suggestions for the party’s course of action on AI frameworks.

“President Obama is correct that decisive action must be taken on artificial intelligence. Republicans have abdicated their responsibility to govern on behalf of the American people. We will not repeat their error,” Jeffries said, per the outlet.
Obama’s sentiments follow commentary from ex-Anthropic employee and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon, who cautioned the public that AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade,” as AFROTECH™ previously reported.
Coxon urged people not to “underestimate the power of this technology” and said progress is not slowing down.