Kamala Harris says the window for AI safeguards “is shutting” and urges the US to work with China on AI rules

Former US vice-president Kamala Harris urged governments and technology companies on 14 October to move quickly on AI safeguards, Reuters reports. Speaking during an appearance at South Korea's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, she said: “My concern is that the window is shutting.”

Reuters reports she named “three existential dangers from AI – cybersecurity threats, AI-enabled weapons and systems escaping human control.” Of AI developers, she said: “If we are to have any guardrails and safeguards, they have to be at the table.”

She urged the United States to work with China on international AI rules despite the rivalry between them. “There is room for cooperation where our interests are aligned,” she said, calling for “healthy and robust competition, but not conflict.”

The Switchboard found no transcript from Harris's office or the Asan Institute, so her words rest on the Reuters report, by Kyu-seok Shim. Her remarks came on the same day that eight US states sued OpenAI, that the EU's AI Office said it had begun enforcing its rules, and that Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis called recent AI hacking incidents “early warning shots”. On 11 October the Switchboard reported AI founders at San Francisco Tech Week cheering President Trump's call for the industry to police itself.

• Reported Harris said “My concern is that the window is shutting” at the Asan Institute on 14 October. Reuters, via GV Wire
• Reported She named cybersecurity threats, AI-enabled weapons and systems escaping human control, and urged US–China cooperation on AI rules. Reuters, via GV Wire