Fears of AI sparked a moment of unity. Now that’s over.
Early alarm about AI's most serious risks briefly brought together lawmakers, tech executives, and policy experts, but that consensus has since broken down. Discussions at the POLITICO Decoded Summit reflected how far the field still is from agreeing on how to address AI's potential dangers.
Why this matters: When the people who build AI, the people who regulate it, and the people who study its risks cannot agree on basic facts, the public ends up unprotected by default. Shared fear bought a short window of cooperation. That window appears to have closed. What replaces it matters a lot. Without consensus, companies face weaker pressure to act, and lawmakers have less political cover to pass anything with real teeth. The people who pay for that gap are not in the room at summits.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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