Bystanders interviewed by Fox News Digital applaud Trump administration’s transparency efforts on UAPs following first tranche of disclosures on Friday.

Newly declassified footage released by the Pentagon is fueling Americans' belief that alien life exists, with attendees at an AI event telling Fox News Digital the videos add weight to long-held suspicions.

The release, part of President Donald Trump’s push to increase transparency around Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), includes never-before-seen clips and documents that have intensified public interest in such objects and renewed scrutiny over how much the government has kept hidden.

"I think the transparency is great — that we’re finally hearing information that they, obviously, have known for a while," one respondent said.

Another told Fox News Digital: "I think if the government has any information about extraterrestrials and they have been holding it as a secret — I guess it’s about time they released it for the public to know about."

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Members of a House subcommittee watched video footage of a Hellfire missile bouncing off an unidentified aerial phenomenon on Sept. 9, 2025. (News)

The comments underscore a continued public interest in extraterrestrial life, UAPs and the newly revealed footage of such objects.

"I know there’s life on other planets," one respondent said. "We just don’t disclose it."

As part of Trump's Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), the administration on Friday released a trove of files and videos related to UAP sightings.

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The clips depict various objects moving unnaturally in the air or through water and were taken from countries across the globe, including Iran, Iraq, Syria and Greece.

The documents reporting UFO and UAP sightings comes in compliance with a directive from Trump on increasing government transparency on reported sightings, all of which remain unsolved.

Tens of millions of documents are being combed through and will be released on a rolling basis.

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President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

"While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files," the White House said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Asked whether they thought the transparency would serve public interests, most respondents said they did.

"Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. And I hope that the world doesn’t go bonkers. And that’s why I think the information has to be slowly released for people because not everybody’s ready for it," another commentator said.

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At least one AI conference attendee said they were skeptical of the release, arguing it could cause panic.

"Horrible idea. We are pack thinkers, and once one of the pack goes, ‘oh, they’re coming to get us,’ we break out into a frenzy," they said.

A black and white photo shows a UFO hovering near Holloman Air Development Center in New Mexico in 1957. The image was taken by a government employee and released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization after study, with no conventional explanation for the object. (Bettmann)

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Still others believe that the weight of the topic merits as much transparency as possible.

"I think they ought to be absolutely transparent. We need to know what they have found, because I do not believe that we are the only ones in the universe," another person said.

Fox News Digital's Elaine Mallon contributed to this report.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

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