HARRISBURG, Pa (WHP) — Artificial intelligence is emerging as a key issue for some Pennsylvania voters heading into November’s governor’s race, as Gov. Josh Shapiro calls for new regulations and his opponent, Stacy Garrity, accuses him of changing his tune.

Shapiro made his stance clear at a summit in Pittsburgh today, saying he is not alarmist about the technology but believes it carries real risks.

“I am not a Doomer. I don’t think it is inevitable that AI is going to take over the world, or that someone will misuse it to kill us or to do harm. But I do have real concerns,” Shapiro said.

READ MORE | ‘I am not a Doomer’: Shapiro says AI has risks, needs regulations during Horizons Summit

He stressed the need for both local and federal action as the technology develops, arguing that regulations should be put in place before harm occurs.

“We can’t just do this retroactively and wait for people to get hurt or wait for these companies to break the law. We need to put proactive measures in place and establish responsible regulations to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the first place,” Shapiro said.

After the conference, Shapiro’s November opponent, Stacy Garrity, issued a statement calling Shapiro’s speech a “shameless flip flop” and said he is reversing course by calling for new guardrails on AI to “better position himself to run for president.”

Some voters in Harrisburg said AI will factor heavily into how they vote.

“It’s the most important issue right now,” Joel Bieg said.

Rob Machado compared the current moment to the early days of the internet and said AI needs oversight.

“It’s like the internet years ago, and then were things were crazy, like it was wild, wild west. Nobody knew how to control it. But now this is coming along and this is like the new, new thing, and it needs better control,” Machado said.

Bieg also said he supports regulation, pointing to prominent tech leaders who have raised concerns.

“I think there should be regulation on itwhen you have the three biggest the, you know, you got Musk and Altman they’re all talking about, you know how it should be regulated, and they’re the ones that are saying it’s a danger, and they’re the ones that made it,” Bieg said.