Obama calls for a public role in shaping AI’s future

Writing on September 14, 2026, Obama called AI lab leaders’ agreement on the need to slow development a “good and necessary first step” and urged putting AI at the center of public debate. He rejected both predictions of a technological utopia and inevitable destruction. In his view, choices made now will determine whether AI delivers breakthroughs in medicine, energy and education or brings economic disruption, greater inequality and potential catastrophe—and those choices should not belong to companies alone.