Former Oklahoma Congressman Warns AI Will Never Be Completely Safe During Duncan Speech

A former Oklahoma congressman brought a national debate to southwest Oklahoma on Thursday, telling an audience at the Simmons Center in Duncan that artificial intelligence will never be entirely safe. Brad Carson, who now serves as co-founder and president of Americans for Responsible Innovation, spoke as part of Cameron University’s academic festival, an event held every three years with the McCasland Foundation as its primary sponsor.

Carson illustrated his concerns with a sobering example: an AI targeting system that failed to detect a site in Iran had changed from a military base into a girls’school. The resulting strike killed more than 150 people. He also warned that people tend to accept computer-generated information without questioning it, which makes oversight even more urgent. His call to action was direct: the federal government needs to regulate AI quickly, before the technology outpaces any ability to supervise it, while still preserving American competitiveness.

For a community anchored by Fort Sill, the stakes feel close to home. Military families here understand better than most what it means to rely on systems that can fail. Carson’s point wasn’t that AI should be abandoned, but that society has to be designed to withstand its mistakes. Should Washington move fast on AI rules, or does speed risk more than it solves?