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Former President Barack Obama recently said that Democrats need to make artificial intelligence one of their \u201ccentral agendas\u201d and \u201chave a very clear plan\u201d to address concerns around the technology\u2019s economic impact and safety, according to The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Obama made these comments on Thursday, at Democratic fundraising event where he was interviewed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The NYT says that Obama\u2019s office provided a partial transcript of the event, at which Jeffries asked Obama how congressional Democrats should approach AI.<\/p>\n In response, Obama said that once Democrats regain the House majority, they need to \u201cput together a framework for a very public conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n \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 added. \u201cIf we do get on top of it, I do think it\u2019s beneficial. I genuinely think it\u2019s going to accelerate, for example, drug development in ways that can help us cure diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, Jeffries said the former president \u201cis correct that decisive action must be taken on artificial intelligence.\u201d Jeffries also said that \u201cRepublicans have abdicated their responsibility to govern on behalf of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n The NYT also reports that Obama has offered himself as a \u201csounding board\u201d to AI executives and has spoken to both Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. His comments come amidst growing concern around AI safety, particularly after an AI researcher resigned from Anthropic<\/a> and claimed the leading AI companies are \u201cracing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n On Saturday, Amodei outlined a broad approach to \u201cpacing the frontier,\u201d<\/a> which would include giving independent safety evaluators access to leading AI companies and models, as well as developing \u201ccommon safety standards\u201d between companies. In social media posts, Altman and SpaceX CEO Musk seemed to respond positively to Amodei\u2019s plan, with Altman saying that OpenAI would also commit to \u201chaving independent evaluators with employee-like access.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump, meanwhile, discussed AI safety concerns with reporters at an Irish golf event on Sunday. Bloomberg reports<\/a> that Trump boasted that the United States is \u201cthe most sophisticated country in the world,\u201d adding that he wants \u201cto keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins.\u201d (Earlier this year, the Trump administration released a legislative framework for AI<\/a> that would preempt state laws and shift the child safety burden to parents.)<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we can put guardrails,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn\u2019t be bringing it up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n