‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdown

‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdown. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/ReutersAnalysis‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdownRobert Booth UK technology editorFrom the Trump administration to AI experts, plans by the Anthropic boss to boost safety have spawned a largely negative response OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back slowdown on ‘reckless’ AI development Editorial: controlling AI – humanity cannot outsource its survival The safety debate that ignited when whistleblowers last week warned that the most advanced AI poses an existential threat to humanity should come with a health warning: side effects include whiplash.

What happened

Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to key eventsBusiness liveBusinessUK government moves to acquire Speciality Steel UK; AI stocks hit by calls for slowdown – as it happenedRolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news AI-linked stocks fall after tech bosses call for slowdown in ‘reckless’ development AI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development. Skip to main contentSave this storySave this storyAs calls for artificial intelligence regulation intensify, US President Donald Trump’s team have made it clear that if lab leaders want to implement an industry-wide slowdown, they’re going to have to do it themselves.

“Too little, too late,” said David Krueger, an AI professor, safety campaigner and former founding director of the UK government’s AI Security Institute. 2% after AI slowdown call7h agoOdey loses appeal against financial services ban9h agoRAC: Fuel hits new Iran war high10h agoChina: AI warnings are 'fearmongering'10h agoUK gilt yields pushed to new highs by rising oil price11h agoEuropean tech stocks hit six-week low11h agoFull story: AI-linked stocks fall after tech bosses call for slowdown in ‘reckless’ development12h agoAirBaltic files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to cut debts12h agoUK gas prices highest in close to four years12h agoASML shares hit by AI slowdown call12h agoAI victims' share prices rise13h agoIG: Tech wobbles as AI enthusiasm wanes14h agoWill AI CEOs actually slow down?

14h agoOpenAI Pre IPO market-cap contract falls14h agoIntroduction: AI-linked Asian stocks slump after slowdown call An aerial view of Specialist Steel's site in Rotherham, England. 14h agoOpenAI Pre IPO market-cap contract falls14h agoIntroduction: AI-linked Asian stocks slump after slowdown callTime to wrap up…One of Britain’s steelworks is to come into public ownership after the government said it would take over Yorkshire-based Speciality Steel UK (SSUK). Donald Trump has hit out at calls for a slowdown in AI development, claiming that there is a “sick conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centres.

The wider picture

That rather indicates the White House will not be backing a slowdown in AI development, despite calls for it in recent days from the major US AI companies. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called on the US government to regulate AI companies within a wider effort to slow the pace of the technology’s development in an essay published Saturday. Calls for AI slowdown and regulation have intensified after a number of researchers voiced major concerns in the last week about the speed of the technology’s advance.

He also called for government assistance in establishing international coordination, including with the Chinese Communist Party, though critics wondered how effective this would be. From the Trump administration to AI experts, plans by the Anthropic boss to boost safety have spawned a largely negative responseOpenAI boss and Elon Musk back slowdown on ‘reckless’ AI developmentEditorial: controlling AI – humanity cannot outsource its survivalThe safety debate that ignited when whistleblowers last week warned that the most advanced AI poses an existential threat to humanity should come with a health warning: side effects include whiplash. It was only seven days ago that AI enthusiasts were cheerily toying with OpenAI’s newest model GPT-6 Astra which was marketed in part as a lifestyle tool to help people book tennis courts, run fashion companies and order takeaways. By Wednesday, cutting-edge AI started to look a lot less appealing when the resigning Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”. Yes, he was talking about artificial superintelligence – an as-yet-nonexistent version of the technology that outcompetes humans in most domains – but his comments, and the chorus of experts that echoed him, jangled plenty of nerves. Continue reading. . .

In signs that a coordinated slowdown might not be just talk, some of Amodei’s precautionary ideas quickly attracted backing from his rivals – Sam Altman at OpenAI and Elon Musk at SpaceX. Perhaps there were reasons to be hopeful after a bumpy week: at least the AI companies were talking about a slowdown before anyone got badly hurt. “If they were to pull away from us on AI, then nothing else would matter. ”People close to Trump also wonder why Amodei and the rest of the AI leaders do not get on with pacing AI development themselves.

What has been reported

Another criticism of Amodei’s call for “pacing” of AI progress to allow safety measures and guardrails to keep up has came from Prof Stuart Russell, one of the world’s leading AI experts. Amodei proposed a slowdown to free up time to make advances in systems to keep the AIs aligned to human interests. Imagine if a pharmaceutical company said: ‘We’re going to release a new cancer drug every year, and we hope that provides enough time for some clinical trials to be completed and for the results to be good. ’”AI experts not working for the big labs were also suspicious about a plan for a global regulatory framework for AI drafted by the leader of the world’s most-valuable AI company.

“Working towards public acquisition will keep options open while we work with local leaders, workers, industry and investors to determine the best long-term future for these sites, which could play a vital role in the future of the growth-driving sectors in our Industrial Strategy, including defence and advanced manufacturing. Donald Trump, though, dismissed calls to increase controls on AI as a “sick conspiracy”, as stocks linked to the technology slumped after appeals from leading developers on the weekend for the industry to slow down.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella also called for pacing development. “If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN on Sunday. While these measures will have “significant costs,” he wrote on X: “Pacing will be well worth this cost; no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness. ”CommentsBack to topJoin the discussionCommentsBack to topYou Might Also LikeIn your inbox: WIRED's most ambitious, future-defining storiesAI slop backlash is actually having an impactBig Story: The cop who took on FlockThe rise of the 1am job interviewWatch: I stole a car by hacking this hidden deviceTopicsDonald Trumpagentic AIElon MuskSam AltmanDario Amodeiartificial intelligenceAnthropicOpenAIChinaThe Top New Features in Apple’s iOS 27 and iPadOS 27The latest iPhone update is chock-full of smart upgrades, with a big focus on improvements to Siri.

What happens next

Skip to main contentSkip to navigation The easiest way not to build super-intelligence is for Anthropic to agree not to build it, said David Sacks, co-chair of Trump’s council of advisers on science and technology. It was only seven days ago that AI enthusiasts were cheerily toying with OpenAI’s newest model GPT-6 Astra which was marketed in part as a lifestyle tool to help people book tennis courts, run fashion companies and order takeaways.

By Wednesday, cutting-edge AI started to look a lot less appealing when the resigning Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”. Yes, he was talking about artificial superintelligence – an as-yet-nonexistent version of the technology that outcompetes humans in most domains – but his comments, and the chorus of experts that echoed him, jangled plenty of nerves. Another lurch came when Anthropic revealed it had found users dodging controls to use its existing models “in ways that could support biological weapons development” – think novel mosquito-borne or bird flu viruses.

It was all enough to make lawmakers in London and Washington demand brakes and bans on the most potentially dangerous types of AI development. And then this weekend, another sharp turn in the form of a three-point plan from the Anthropic boss, Dario Amodei, to “pace the frontier”.

The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across theguardian.com, wired.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.