Fox News columnist Mark Halperin warns that the US risks repeating the mistakes made with social media, this time with artificial intelligence, arguing that society is not having the urgent conversations needed about AI's risks and benefits before the technology becomes deeply embedded in everyday life. He likens AI to aliens landing on Earth: the same technology capable of curing diseases, improving education and boosting government efficiency could equally be used to deceive, manipulate and harm people, and it is often impossible to separate the beneficial applications from the dangerous ones.

Halperin argues that America's response to AI so far has swung erratically between dismissive memes, apocalyptic fear and complacent comparisons to search engines, while China is aggressively pursuing and weaponising the technology. He points to the belated regulatory scramble over social media's harmful effects on children and teenagers as a cautionary lesson, noting that governments only acted after significant damage had already been done, and warns that AI is evolving so quickly that lawmakers risk falling behind again, given how slowly legislative and regulatory processes typically move.