# Obama tells Democrats to get serious about AI

> A former president, two AI CEOs, and a sitting president are all circling the same question: who sets the rules for AI.
- Title: Obama tells Democrats to get serious about AI · TechCrunch
- Summary: A former president, two AI CEOs, and a sitting president are all circling the same question: who sets the rules for AI. AI policy is becoming a…
- Keywords: ai policy, obama, ai safety, democrats, regulation, technology, startups, tells, get, serious, TechCrunch
- Source: TechCrunch — https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/13/obama-urges-democrats-to-have-a-clear-plan-for-ai-safeguards
- Author: Anthony Ha
- Published: 2026-09-13T16:30:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ai policy, obama, ai safety, democrats, regulation, technology, startups
## Make AI a central agenda
Obama told a Democratic fundraiser that his party needs AI near the top of its platform, with a very clear plan for the economic and safety fallout.

> have a very clear plan
## A framework, then a conversation
Asked by Hakeem Jeffries how congressional Democrats should handle AI, Obama said that once they retake the House they should build a framework for a public debate.

> put together a framework for a very public conversation
## Fast, private, and risky
His worry is speed plus ownership. The technology is advancing inside a handful of private companies, with no public body keeping pace.

> 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.
## The upside he still believes in
Obama isn't arguing for a brake. He expects AI to speed up drug development and help cure diseases, but only if oversight catches up first.

> it's going to accelerate, for example, drug development in ways that can help us cure diseases
## He's talking to the labs
Obama has offered himself as a sounding board to AI executives and has spoken with Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman directly.
## The labs police themselves
Amodei proposed pacing the frontier: independent evaluators with access to top models, plus shared safety standards. Altman committed OpenAI to employee-like evaluator access.

> racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives
## Trump wants to win, not slow down
Trump framed AI as a race the US must win and dismissed safety warnings as negative forces. His administration's framework would preempt state laws and put child safety on parents.

> whoever wins AI wins
## Key takeaway

AI policy is becoming a party-defining issue, and right now the only concrete safety proposals are coming from the companies themselves, not from Washington.