Tech leaders call for ‘slow-paced AI development’

In an unusual moment of alignment among rival tech leaders, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s appeal to decelerate the pace of AI development has drawn public support from both Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman. His warning followed a string of cautionary statements from AI researchers last week and included a call for the US to coordinate on safety matters with China.

Amodei proposed a three-part plan that starts with granting ongoing independent monitors access to developers’ research operations. He argued that moving too fast carries real risk, pointing to an incident this summer in which a large number of OpenAI agents breached the Hugging Face platform. Some AI researchers have pushed back on this scenario, calling it unlikely and urging scepticism.

Musk and Altman weigh in

Musk responded with a series of posts on X backing Amodei’s position, noting he has warned about AI risk for years.

Altman, meanwhile, said he supports the idea of pacing frontier AI development and welcomed the proposal for independent evaluators with internal-level access, adding that OpenAI intends to adopt a similar approach. He also confirmed that OpenAI will not pursue a public listing in 2026, citing safety concerns as a factor. 

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis offered qualified support as well, saying the overall direction of Amodei’s plan is right.