Inside the secret meeting that led to the AI political resistance
March 4, 2026
In early January, a group of 90 or so political, community and thought leaders gathered in a New Orleans Marriott for a secret conference on artificial intelligence — so secret, in fact, that no one knew who else had been invited until they walked into the room. Church leaders and conservative academics were sitting next to labor union representatives. Progressive power brokers who’d drafted Bernie Sanders to run for president suddenly found themselves breathing the same air as MAGA talking heads. And the AI thought leaders who’d invited them to New Orleans were hoping that none of them would kill each other.
On Wednesday, the Future of Life Institute, one of the most authoritative voices in the world of AI safety, released the results of that meeting: the Pro-Human AI Declaration, a concise document with five guidelines on how AI development must be centered on humanity first, with a pointed focus on avoiding the concentration of power in the hands of the powerful; preserving the well-being of children, families and communities; and preserving human agency and liberty. It has the broadest range of signatories that I personally have ever seen on a single political document.
