Obama backs AI slowdown as Trump rejects tighter guardrails: ‘Potential catastrophe will depend on our choices’

Former US President Barack Obama has endorsed pleas from top artificial intelligence firms to decelerate the rapid pace of AI development. The technology is advancing so swiftly that its developers might find it difficult to keep abreast, he stated on Tuesday. Obama's remarks followed US President Donald Trump's refusal to endorse tighter controls on AI amid a debate over the speed of frontier AI's advancement and the extent of required oversight.

"I was pleased to see leaders of the frontier labs concur on the need to slow down the pace of AI development," Obama wrote on X. He deemed it "a positive and essential initial step," but expressed greater optimism that the future of AI was now being discussed publicly. Obama, who had been tracking AI advancements for over a decade, affirmed that the technology's potential impact was "not exaggerated."

He acknowledged that AI's progress was "moving at lightning speed—and even faster than those who engineer it can keep up." Obama clarified that he was neither an "AI accelerationist" who believed AI would create a utopia, nor a "doomer" who anticipated AI to inevitably destroy humanity. Instead, he emphasized that the outcome would hinge on the decisions made now.

"Whether this technology yields transformative breakthroughs in medicine, energy, and education or precipitates significant economic disruptions, widening inequality, and potential catastrophe will depend on the choices we make right now—choices that should be made not just by the companies involved, but by all of us," Obama wrote.

Obama welcomed Project Blueprint, a program intended to assist tech companies and policymakers in crafting robust AI standards and guidelines. He cautioned that voluntary standards by tech firms would be insufficient. Obama advocated for the US government to enact laws and regulations governing AI safety, job impacts, and the consequences for children, while ensuring its benefits are equitably distributed.

"We require government—and particularly our leaders in Washington—to be proactive in devising concrete proposals, laws, and regulations addressing critical safety concerns, anticipating AI's impact on employment and our children, and ensuring that AI’s benefits are broadly shared. And we require the US to spearhead the establishment of international AI safety standards," he noted. "We can't hide AI away in a box," the ex-president concluded.