Obama backs slower AI development, says choices now will shape its impact

Washington [US], September 15 (ANI): Former US President Barack Obama has said choices being made now over the development of artificial intelligence will determine whether the technology delivers major breakthroughs in medicine, energy and education or instead brings economic disruption, greater inequality and potential catastrophe.
In a post on X, Obama said he was encouraged by recent calls from leaders of frontier AI laboratories to slow the pace of development, describing the move as "a good and necessary first step". He said the growing debate over how AI should develop was equally important.
"I’m even more encouraged by the growing recognition that how this powerful new technology develops should be at the center of our public debate," Obama said.
Obama, who said he has followed AI's progress for more than a decade, said the technology was developing at "lightning speed" and was moving even faster than those engineering it could keep up with.
He said he did not subscribe either to the view that AI would inevitably create a technology-driven future or to the belief that it would necessarily lead to humanity's destruction.
"I’m not an AI accelerationist who believes it will lead to some techno-utopia, and I’m not a doomer who thinks it will inevitably lead to humanity’s destruction," he said.
Instead, Obama said the consequences of AI would depend on decisions taken at the current stage of its development.
"But whether this technology results in amazing breakthroughs in medicine, energy and education or unleashes huge economic disruptions, greater inequality, and potential catastrophe will depend on the choices that we make right now," he said.
He stressed that those choices should not be left solely to the technology companies developing AI.
"Choices that should be made not just by the companies involved, but by all of us," Obama said.
His comments come amid a wider debate among AI industry leaders over the pace of development and the safeguards needed as increasingly capable systems are built. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the industry to slow the pace of AI development and proposed giving third-party evaluators ongoing access to AI systems.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has backed independent evaluators while emphasising safe development, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has proposed peer review in which leading AI companies test each other's models before release. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also backed calls for a slower pace of AI development.
The debate follows former Anthropic researcher’s public resignation where had claimed that companies were close to losing control of the AI technology.
Obama's comments point to a broader question that is likely to shape the next phase of AI development — not simply how quickly the technology can advance, but how companies, governments and society choose to manage its potential benefits and risks. (ANI)