Obama urges Democrats to prioritize AI oversight, warns tech could be ‘dangerous’

Former President Barack Obama privately urged Democrats to prioritize oversight of artificial intelligence as the revolutionary technology reaches new heights.Obama, who has become a sage-like figure to Democrats since leaving office in 2017, gave his insights on AI while speaking at a private fundraising event on Thursday, the New York Times reported. He reportedly warned Democrats that the technology could be “dangerous” if not properly managed and urged the party to make managing the technology a priority in the coming years.“Once you are speaker, I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,” Obama reportedly told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). “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. 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,” he added.The former president mostly remained vague and noncommittal during his speech. Ideologically, he said he was neither an “accelerationist” nor a “doomer” on AI.As AI has continued to advance at a breakneck pace, politicians have scrambled to properly react to the technology. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, have mostly embraced the landmark technology, while Democrats have been increasingly skeptical. At the top of the list of concerns has been competition with China. People on both sides fear that any slowdown in AI development could cede the race to China.“We’re leading China in AI,” Trump told reporters on Sunday while attending the Irish Open. “And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.”He then dismissed AI’s biggest critics, saying there were “a lot of negative forces” that are “bringing up things that won’t happen.”TRUMP IS RIGHT ABOUT AI: DATA CENTERS AREN’T THE VILLAIN — ANTI-GROWTH POLITICIANS AREHouse Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), speaking to CNN on Sunday, spoke against an emergency congressional moratorium on AI but called for a wider meeting on AI with industry experts.“I think the leaders and the providers of these platforms … they need to come together in a meeting with us and sit down and figure out what the right balance is. We cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us, and that’s the challenge. It’s national security balanced with the immediate security of making sure the models are safe,” he said.