Obama backs pacing frontier AI and calls for federal safety laws

Former President Barack Obama publicly backed frontier AI labs’ calls to slow the pace of the most advanced systems and urged U.S. leaders to write concrete laws and regulations covering AI safety, jobs, and children — saying voluntary standards from a handful of tech companies will not be enough. Bloomberg and other same-cycle wires reported the statement as Obama’s most in-depth public AI comments yet, following President Trump’s rejection of new AI guardrails.

The most recent Democratic president just went on the record backing “pace the frontier” and demanding federal AI safety laws, not voluntary lab self-policing, in the same news cycle Trump called AI doom a hoax. That is the midterms contrast in one statement.

Former President Barack Obama issued a public statement reported as posted on X. Bloomberg covered that statement on 15 Sep 2026. The Straits Times’ Bloomberg syndication dates the statement itself 14 Sep. That Bloomberg story — plus the Straits Times syndication and Hindustan Times quoting the same statement text — is the filing event. These are Obama’s public words. They are not a new federal agency, not a bill he filed, and not a treaty.

Quoted, as Hindustan Times transcribes the X post: “I was encouraged this week to see the leaders of the frontier labs agree on the need for them to slow down the pace of AI development.” He called that agreement “a good and necessary first step,” and said he was even more encouraged that the future of AI was becoming part of public debate. Frontier labs means the companies building the most advanced AI systems.

He said he has watched AI progress for over a decade and that its potential impact is “not overhyped.” Quoted, still via Hindustan Times: it is moving “at lightning speed — and even faster than those who are engineering it can keep up with.”

He said he is neither an “AI accelerationist” who expects a techno-utopia — a world where the tech fixes everything — nor a “doomer” who thinks AI will inevitably destroy humanity. Quoted, via Hindustan Times: “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 — choices that should be made not just by the companies involved, but by all of us.” Bloomberg and the Straits Times paraphrase the same split.

Obama said AI policy “should be at the centre of our public debate” and that Washington must “get proactive” with concrete proposals, laws, and regulations dealing with serious safety concerns, AI’s impact on jobs and kids, and spreading benefits widely. Quoted, via the Straits Times Bloomberg syndication: “voluntary standards made by a handful of tech companies won’t be enough.” He said the United States should take the lead in creating international standards for AI safety.

Quoted, via the Straits Times and Hindustan Times: “We can’t stuff AI back in a box.” And, as Bloomberg / Straits Times carry it: “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.”

Hindustan Times reports that Obama welcomed Project Blueprint, an initiative aimed at helping tech companies and policymakers develop stronger AI standards and guidelines.

Same-cycle wire context, not an Obama quote: on 14 Sep President Trump rejected new AI guardrails and called existential AI fears a “hoax,”. Bloomberg and the Straits Times frame Obama’s statement as rebuking that hands-off approach. The Straits Times says he did not mention his successor by name.