Democrats embraced AI’s growth before Trump came along; now, they want to slow it down
Some of the Democratic Party’s most prominent voices are pushing for tighter limits on artificial intelligence, including former President Barack Obama, who has joined calls for a slower pace of frontier AI development after years of Democratic leaders touting the technology’s economic and strategic potential.
"We need government — and specifically our leaders in Washington — to get proactive in coming up with concrete proposals, laws and regulations that deal with serious safety concerns, anticipate AI’s impact on jobs and our kids and make sure that AI’s benefits are widely spread," Obama said in a statement Monday night.
Obama’s latest comments put greater emphasis on slowing frontier AI development than his White House did in 2016, when his administration highlighted the technology’s economic potential while also warning about disruption and calling for policy responses.
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Democrats have long paired enthusiasm for AI’s economic and strategic potential with warnings about its risks, but some of the party’s most prominent voices are now going further, calling for a slower pace of frontier AI development and tougher limits on how the technology is built and deployed.
Attorney General Todd Blanche argued Tuesday that Democrats’ renewed focus on the potential risks of artificial intelligence should not be treated as "breaking news," suggesting the timing, months before the midterm elections, is politically significant.
"Every Democrat senator suddenly races to a microphone to talk about AI after being eerily silent for months and months, a month. So, to talk about the timing of this as being nothing but an effort to influence the midterms, I shouldn't have to say that out loud, of course," said Blanche.
The comments came as President Donald Trump has made rapid AI development and the data centers needed to power it a priority, while the administration promotes the technology’s potential economic benefits and faces growing political scrutiny over the cost and impact of expanding data-center infrastructure.
Obama issued a statement Monday on X, writing that AI is "moving at lightning speed – and even faster than those who are engineering it can keep up with."
"Given what we know about technology, we can’t stuff AI back in a box. But we can collectively determine how it's developed and how it’s used, rather than sitting back and letting AI and its fallout happen to us," he wrote.
He called for regulation, saying choices to slow down should not be left up to the tech companies.
Any "potential catastrophe will depend on the choices that we make right now," said Obama.
In 2016, Obama’s White House touted AI’s potential to open new markets and drive progress across industries while warning about job disruption and broader safety and policy challenges.
"Advances in AI technology hold incredible potential to help the United States stay on the cutting edge of innovation," the White House said in its December 2016 Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy report.
"Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and related fields have opened up new markets and new opportunities for progress in critical areas such as health, education, energy, economic inclusion, social welfare, and the environment. … AI should be welcomed for its potential economic benefits," the report added.
Similarly, then-Vice President Kamala Harris said in January 2025 that "it is imperative that the United States remain the global leader on AI" as the Biden administration moved to speed up the buildout needed to support large-scale AI operations.
The Biden administration announced an executive order aimed at accelerating AI infrastructure in the U.S., including large data centers and clean-energy projects, as the administration sought to keep the country ahead of its global competitors.
Harris has also recently called for slowing the pace of frontier AI development, arguing that the technology is advancing at an "alarming speed" and urging Congress to establish stronger oversight and safety standards.
"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 wrote.
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AI and data centers have quickly become a major midterm issue, as concerns over electricity costs, jobs and the rapid buildout draw increasing attention from candidates in both parties.
President Donald Trump has pushed back on the Democrats’ urgency to caution about using AI, calling it a "hoax."
Fox News Digital reached out to Obama, Harris and Schumer's teams for comment.