Former United States President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the chances of aliens visiting Earth are “low”, seeking to clarify remarks made during a podcast interview that prompted widespread online speculation.
His clarification followed a rapid-fire exchange in which he stated that extraterrestrials are “real”, adding that he had not seen them.
Podcast exchange and initial remarks
Over the weekend, Obama appeared on US YouTube personality Brian Tyler Cohen’s “No Lie” show. During a quick round of short questions requiring brief answers, he was asked whether aliens were real.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama replied. He added: “They are not being kept in … Area 51. There isn’t some underground facility, unless there’s this massive conspiracy and they kept it from the President of the United States.”
Barack Obama on aliens: “They’re real”
— UAP James (@UAPJames) February 14, 2026
“But I haven’t seen them. They’re not being kept at Area 51. There’s no underground facility — unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/c6t0DYxewU
The exchange was widely shared online and reported internationally, with some headlines suggesting that the former president had confirmed the existence of aliens.
Clarification issued on Instagram
On Sunday evening, Obama issued a clarification through a post on Instagram.
“I was trying to stay in the spirit of the quick round, but since it got attention, let me clarify,” he wrote. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”
He continued: “But the distances between solar systems are so vast that the odds that aliens have visited us are low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that aliens have made contact with us. Really!”
The former president reiterated that, during his time in office, he had seen “no evidence” of extraterrestrial contact with Earth.
Reference to Area 51 and conspiracy claims
Obama’s initial response also addressed long-standing conspiracy theories concerning Area 51, a highly classified United States Air Force facility in Nevada.
A persistent theory claims that the US government conceals extraterrestrials at the site. In 2019, after 1.5 million people indicated online that they would “storm” the facility, around 150 social media influencers gathered near its perimeter. The event concluded with limited incidents and a small number of arrests and later evolved into a music festival.
Declassified documents released in 2013 revealed that the facility had been used for aerial testing of US government programmes, including the U-2 and Oxcart surveillance aircraft projects. According to the documents, high-altitude testing of the U-2 programme led to a significant increase in reports of unidentified flying objects.
Statistical probability versus evidence
In his clarification, Obama distinguished between the statistical likelihood of life existing elsewhere in the universe and the probability of extraterrestrials visiting Earth.
He stated that, while the size of the universe makes the existence of life beyond Earth plausible, the vast distances between solar systems make the likelihood of contact low. He confirmed that he had seen no evidence during his presidency that aliens had visited or made contact with Earth.
Source: The Guardian