US presidential debate inexplicably omits AI and quantum

Other terms that went unmentioned were cryptocurrency, blockchain, central bank digital currency, deepfake and election security.

The first of three United States presidential debates ahead of the 2024 election took place on June 27 in Atlanta. It was the only televised presidential debate since 1960 to be conducted without a studio audience. But the crowd wasn’t the only thing missing. 

While the debate touched on a wide range of topics, covering immigration, voter perception and the economy, there wasn’t a single mention of the terms “artificial intelligence” or “quantum computing.”

This is noteworthy in 2024 for several reasons. Firstly, artificial intelligence (AI) has had an outsized impact on the U.S. stock market, economy and technology sector over the past four years. And, arguably, the next U.S. president will be the first to face down “Q-Day,” the theoretical point at which quantum computers become sufficiently powerful to crack standard encryption methods.