President Donald Trump has said that the US has to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) technology (or “superintelligence”), clearing government roadblocks for innovators while demanding full corporate transparency

He has also flatly rejected any joint US-China AI ventures, holding the line on a simple principle: America protects its technological superiority instead of handing the keys over to a strategic rival.

It’s a sober, sensible playbook that makes the sudden, doom-and-gloom lecturing from Democrats look all the more ridiculous.

That brings us to Barack Obama.

When he’s not making self-congratulatory podcasts or making TV shows, the former president occasionally descends from the mountaintop to deliver a sermon to the masses.

His latest stop on the righteousness tour was Colgate University, where he warned a room of wide-eyed academics that AI is on the verge of falling into the hands of “bad humans” and potentially bringing about the end of civilization. 

Naturally, he pointed an accusing finger straight at President Trump, demanding the state step in with a heavy hand to police innovation.

Those in attendance nodded along. There’s just one problem, and it’s impossible to ignore. 

Obama helped unleash the very technology he now seeks to shackle. Worse still, he is stoking panic rather than encouraging reasoned discussion of the risks and benefits of AI.

California sits directly at the center of this hypocrisy. Silicon Valley didn’t accidentally conquer the world during the Obama presidency. Far from it. Big Tech was enabled by a White House that happily traded regulatory immunity for campaign cash.

Silicon Valley bankrolled Obama’s campaign war chest. And in return, his administration cleared the runway, letting oligarchs and engineers build massive “unicorn” companies without much federal interference.

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In 2016, Obama’s own administration released an expansive national AI strategy designed to accelerate investment while staying out of the way. It was an acknowledgment of the obvious: You don’t seek to stifle American ingenuity with unnecessary regulations while aggressive foreign powers race ahead.

That same year, Washington wisely got out of the driver’s seat entirely, clearing federal pathways for early testing of autonomous vehicles on public highways. American roads became the natural proving ground for transformative software.

This wasn’t complicated, nor was it the product of some grand executive vision. Washington simply understood that engineers needed room to develop and test their technology in the real world.