Trump dismisses AI safety warnings, says US must lead China

Former President Barack Obama told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a closed-door Manhattan fundraiser Thursday that Democrats should build a sweeping framework for a “very public conversation” about artificial intelligence, according to a transcript first reported by the New York Times.

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

Obama framed the choice as one that would shape AI’s longer-term trajectory, citing both risks and potential benefits. “If we do get on top of it, I do think it’s beneficial,” he said. “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 also sketched the political pitch he said he would offer voters: “I would talk about this, and I would say, ‘Here’s our plan for safety. Here’s our plan for making sure our kids are not corrupted by this.’”

The remarks follow a summer of escalating public attention to AI’s risks. OpenAI chatbots hacked the company Hugging Face in a disclosed incident. Towns across the country organized against data centers. A departing AI researcher posted on social media that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

The policy debate in Washington has remained largely static. While prominent Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have called for AI regulation, Trump attempted to aid the industry by introducing legislation that would have banned state AI regulations, a bill that did not advance. Democrats face an open presidential field in 2028.

Trump, asked Sunday by reporters at his Irish golf course whether the AI industry should slow down or face more regulation, dismissed the concerns. He described “very negative forces” as raising AI worries that “won’t happen” and said his priority was keeping the United States ahead of China.

“We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Trump told reporters, according to Reuters.

Two weeks ago, Trump posted on TruthSocial that Americans who oppose AI data centers are likely “backwards and poor,” writing: “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

The data-center fight has emerged as one of the few issues where the two parties have found common ground this cycle. Both have run ads critical of data centers, according to an NPR analysis, which described the issue as one where “Maga Republicans and liberal Democrats” agree.

Industry leaders have expressed agreement that the race for technological superiority should slow, while also seeking to reassure investors whose stake in the technology is predicted to exceed $1tn in 2026 alone, the Guardian reported.

Obama’s remarks did not detail how the framework he envisions would be assembled or which policy levers it would pull.