Kamala Harris has reemerged in the artificial intelligence debate, issuing a sweeping call for government control over the technology despite her own shaky record on both policy and basic explanations of tech.
Her latest statement, released after a weekend of public comments from industry leaders, urges Washington to slow the pace of AI development and dramatically expand federal oversight. According to RedState, the failed 2024 Democratic presidential candidatewho was once touted as Joe Bidens AI Czar with about as much success as her stint as border czarhas now positioned herself as a voice of caution on a field she has previously struggled even to describe.
In her new remarks, Harris declared, 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 added, A slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest, insisting that pacing AI development does not mean giving up on this technologys potential to produce life-saving benefits in fields like medicine some of which we are already seeing.
Harris framed her proposal as a matter of control and safety, warning that without intervention, AI could completely escape human control and endanger our safety and collective future. She argued that this moment demands the leadership of the United States government, calling on Congress to work at an urgent pace to pass new laws and establish a new federal entity to provide oversight and independent testing for this technology, to ensure accountability, and to protect our wellbeing.
Her ambitions do not stop at the waters edge, as she also pressed for a global regulatory regime. We need cooperation at an international level as well, Harris said, insisting that the United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards. In a move that raised eyebrows among those wary of ceding leverage to hostile regimes, she urged that the president must do his job to protect Americas 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.
Critics on the right and even some in the tech world immediately questioned whether Harris had actually authored the polished statement, given her past public comments on the subject. Many contrasted the carefully crafted language with her widely mocked 2023 attempt to explain the concept, when she said, AI is kind of a fancy thing...Its two letters! It means artificial intelligence!a remark that quickly became shorthand for her perceived superficial grasp of complex issues.
That earlier clip resurfaced across social media as users juxtaposed it with her new call for sweeping federal and international controls. You look at that, and you wonder how anyone could have voted for that, one commentator observed, capturing the exasperation of conservatives who see Harris as emblematic of style-over-substance Democratic politics.
The online reaction was swift and merciless, with many suggesting the statement itself sounded more like a product of the very technology she wants to restrain. One viral post sneered, An AI generated post warning about the dangers of AI, while another asked, Grok, was this written by an AI chatbot? as users shared screenshots and memes mocking the vice presidents sudden technocratic tone.
Others dredged up past moments in which Harris struggled to explain basic digital concepts, including a clip of her halting effort to describe the cloud, to underscore what they see as a pattern of condescension wrapped in confusion. For conservatives, these episodes reinforce a broader concern: that Democrats who barely understand emerging technologies are nonetheless eager to regulate them aggressively, centralizing power in Washington and even in international bodies.
The timing of Harris statement also raised suspicions, coming as other prominent figures on the left, including Barack Obama, began echoing similar talking points about slowing AI and tightening controls. As one critic put it, All the worst people are taking the exact same position on the same issue at the same time. Huh, a sentiment that reflects growing unease that coordinated elite messaging on AI is less about safety and more about consolidating political and cultural control over a powerful new tool.
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