Harris Calls for AI Slowdown, Treaty with China Amid Political Debate

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has called for a slowdown in artificial intelligence development and urged President Donald Trump to pursue an international treaty with China to limit AI's speed and establish global safety standards. In a statement posted on Monday, Harris warned that AI is advancing at an alarming speed and emphasized the need for sensible guardrails to prevent it from escaping human control. Harris, who served as the Biden administration's AI czar, wrote that a slowdown is critical to ensure AI serves the public interest. She stated that pacing AI development does not mean abandoning its potential benefits in fields like medicine but rather setting up guardrails to protect safety and the collective future. Harris called on Congress to work urgently to pass new laws and establish a federal oversight entity for independent testing and accountability. Her statement aligns with recent calls from industry leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has advocated for a pause in AI development to avoid potential harm. In an essay and interview, Amodei urged industry leaders to collaborate to prevent AI from taking wrong paths.