Kamala Harris joins calls for ‘slowdown’ in AI development

Lisa Leutner/Reuters/File

Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday warned of the “alarming speed” at which artificial intelligence is progressing, joining calls from some industry leaders for a “slowdown” in the technology’s development amid growing public concerns.

“The frontier of artificial intelligence is advancing at an alarming speed. Over the weekend, industry leaders voiced support for an idea that the American people and many AI researchers in their own labs have been calling for: We must responsibly slow the pace of frontier AI development,” she said on X . “A slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest.”

While she praised the ability of AI to make progress in important sectors, like medicine, she said the technology needs “sensible guardrails so that AI does not completely escape human control and endanger our safety and collective future.”

The debate around artificial intelligence has ramped up in recent days, with some politicians and tech executives calling for greater government regulation of the industry while President Donald Trump has deemed the concerns about AI a “HOAX” and part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

In a sign of the issue’s political potency, former President Barack Obama, speaking at a private fundraiser alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, last week urged Democrats, including those considering running for president in 2028, to put AI at the center of their agendas. “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,” he said.

Harris, who is seen as a possible 2028 contender after falling short of winning the presidency in 2024, called for Congress to establish a federal oversight agency and urged Trump, her former rival, to work towards an international treaty to address AI.

“The United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards,” she said. “This means that the president must do his job to protect America’s interests by pursuing a treaty with countries like China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development, and adopt global standards for testing.”

Trump, however, has fiercely rejected calls for a slowdown in a series of social media posts in recent days downplaying safety concerns and hyping up the need to stay competitive with China.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump said on Monday. “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.”

Trump’s stance appears to be at odds with the growing public concerns about AI’s development. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned a lengthy essay calling for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday, Amodei called on industry leaders to work together to avoid “the wrong paths” and the possibility of AI harming humanity.

Pete Buttigieg, a former Transportation secretary whose name is also in the mix for 2028, has also emphasized the stakes of the technology and over the weekend argued that the government need to address AI “head on.”

“AI is moving quickly. And for Congress to just sit on its hands, for the White House to do nothing real is something that is deeply dangerous to the American people and the world,” Buttigieg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There need to be safeguards. There need to be rules. There need to be limits. There needs to be a kill switch on rogue AI. You can set up frameworks that can be adjusted and changed every 30 days.”

丽莎·洛伊特纳/路透社/档案照片

前副总统卡马拉·哈里斯周一警告称，人工智能的发展速度“令人担忧”，一些行业领袖也呼吁在公众日益担忧的情况下“放缓”该技术的发展。

“人工智能前沿技术正以惊人的速度发展。上周末，业界领袖们纷纷表示支持美国民众和许多人工智能研究人员在其实验室中一直呼吁的观点：我们必须负责任地放慢前沿人工智能的发展速度，”她在X网站上说道。“放慢速度至关重要，才能确保人工智能服务于公众利益。”

她赞扬了人工智能在医学等重要领域取得进步的能力，但她也表示，这项技术需要“合理的护栏，以免人工智能完全脱离人类的控制，危及我们的安全和共同的未来”。

近几天来，围绕人工智能的争论愈演愈烈，一些政界人士和科技高管呼吁政府加强对该行业的监管，而唐纳德·特朗普总统则认为对人工智能的担忧是“骗局”和“邪恶阴谋”的一部分。

为了凸显人工智能问题的政治影响力，前总统奥巴马上周在与众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯共同出席的一场私人筹款活动上发表讲话，敦促包括那些考虑参加2028年总统竞选的民主党人在内的所有民主党人，将人工智能置于其议程的核心位置。他说：“这项技术在私人领域发展迅猛，如果我们不加以控制，我认为这将非常危险。”

哈里斯在 2024 年总统大选中落败，被视为 2028 年总统大选的潜在竞争者。她呼吁国会设立联邦监督机构，并敦促她的前竞争对手特朗普努力达成一项解决人工智能问题的国际条约。

她表示：“美国必须继续引领世界人工智能技术发展，同时努力推行符合常识的安全标准。这意味着总统必须履行职责，通过与中国等国家达成条约来保护美国的利益，以阻止人工智能的危险用途，限制其发展速度，并制定全球通用的测试标准。”

然而，特朗普近日在一系列社交媒体帖子中强烈拒绝了放慢经济步伐的呼吁，淡化了安全方面的担忧，并夸大了与中国保持竞争力的必要性。

特朗普周一表示：“人工智能唯一需要的控制或‘护栏’就是一位强大而睿智（高智商！）的总统，而美国在这方面人才济济！”他还说：“我们已经对这些公司拥有巨大的刑事和监管权力！一场针对人工智能和数据中心的邪恶阴谋正在进行，而唯一乐见其成的只有中国。”

特朗普的立场似乎与公众对人工智能发展日益增长的担忧背道而驰。上周末，人脑公司首席执行官达里奥·阿莫迪撰写了一篇长文，呼吁放缓人工智能的研发速度。周六，阿莫迪在接受CNN安德森·库珀的独家专访时，呼吁行业领袖们携手合作，避免“走上错误的道路”，防止人工智能对人类造成危害。

前交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格也是 2028 年总统候选人之一，他也强调了这项技术的重要性，并在周末表示，政府需要“正面”应对人工智能问题。

“人工智能发展日新月异。国会袖手旁观，白宫无所作为，这对美国人民乃至全世界都极其危险，”布蒂吉格周日在NBC的“会见媒体”节目中说道。“我们需要保障措施，需要规则，需要限制。我们需要一个能够阻止失控人工智能的开关。我们可以建立一些框架，并每30天进行一次调整和修改。”