AI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development. But will they?
AI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development. But will they?. Photograph: Bhawika Chhabra/ReutersAI CEOs say they need to slow the pace of development.
What happened
You should listen to the warnings about AIAlex TurnerWe must stop companies from allowing AI to self-improve into an uncontrollable level of intelligence Major AI lab CEOs advocated for slowing the pace of AI development this weekend. You need to slow down. ’”Kokotajlo said that after years of people “yelling at them to do this” — including more than 1,000 AI lab employees signing a public letter from July, which called for a slowdown in AI development after the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident — the CEOs are “now bowing to that pressure and also claiming credit for it, [although] not rightfully. ”Overall, a handful of sources told The Verge they believe that the verbal agreement made by the AI leaders is a step in the right direction.
The OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and xAI owner Elon Musk posted support for Amodei’s proposal for slowing AI development, titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” with Altman stating he would match Amodei’s commitment to embedding outside evaluators within his company to verify safety practices. In a statement posted on social media, Barack Obama, the former US president, called for the pace of AI development to be slowed to allow time for the federal government to develop regulations to address “serious safety concerns”.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei over the weekend called for the pace of AI development to slow and be more closely monitored, as the company has done before, though some have questioned the motivations behind this. Major AI companies want to ‘pace the frontier’ — but their proposed solutions need real teeth. by Hayden FieldSep 14, 2026, 10:59 PM UTC Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesAIPolicyReportIs Big Tech’s AI slowdown a safety pact or a cartel? When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis, and SpaceX head Elon Musk loosely agreed over the weekend to slow down AI development, skeptics spotted an ulterior motive immediately.
The wider picture
Over the weekend, Amodei published an essay arguing for the intentional slowing of the pace of model development, garnering support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX's Elon Musk. After apocalyptic warnings about the threats posed by AI, leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s calls to ‘slow the pace’Facing a public uproar over Anthropic researchers’ repeated warnings that artificial intelligence could kill all of humanity by 2030, the AI company’s CEO Dario Amodei issued a proposal at the weekend to slow down the technology’s advancement to ensure public safety. In a rare display of unity, the heads of the largest US artificial intelligence companies all agreed immediately. Continue reading. . .
“I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier,” Altman posted Saturday on X. View image in fullscreenElon Musk, CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have said AI firms should slow down the development of the powerful technology. On Sunday, Trump once again rejected calls for slowing down AI development while citing competition from China and telling reporters “whoever wins AI, wins”. However, US President Donald Trump has rejected calls to slow the development of AI, saying on social media "AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX".
Major AI companies want to ‘pace the frontier’ — but their proposed solutions need real teeth. by Hayden FieldSep 14, 2026, 10:59 PM UTCHayden Field is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. The AI titans had declared that their aim was to “pace the frontier,” signing on at least partially to a proposal for embedding third-party auditors, regulating domestic labs, and reaching a global slowdown agreement.
What has been reported
One X user wrote, “If I am going to die at the hands of killer AI, I want it to be American, not Chinese. ”Redwood Research’s Shlegeris said it wasn’t in the best interest of neither the US nor the Chinese government to pursue AI development in a “reckless” way, adding that “it would not be unprecedented levels of international coordination. ”“[People are] taking for granted that China won’t cooperate,” Johnston said, adding, “This is an issue so serious and so widespread that it seems like it’s in everyone’s interest to coordinate on it, in the same way it was in both the US and Russia’s interest to coordinate on nuclear de-proliferation. ”On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did push back on the calls for a slowdown, calling it “fearmongering. ”The Midas Project’s Johnston and Redwood Research’s Shlegeris both said that even in the absence of Chinese cooperation, it’s still vital to encourage US coordination.
Hayden FieldAIAnthropicGoogleOpenAIPolicyReportTechxAIMost PopularMost PopularApple releases iOS 27 with Siri AI overhaulThe Steam Frame is made for irresponsible hardware nerds like meThe Dell XPS 13 is the first real competitor to the MacBook NeoYour car is selling your dataValve’s Steam Frame costs $1,059Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native adMore in AIWhat execs and politicians are saying about slowing down AI developmentJensen Huang puts Trump on speakerphone onstage to announce robots won’t take over the worldMicrosoft says ‘people matter more than AI’ following safety concernsTrump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreactingOpenAI’s rogue AI tried to hack another company in MaySam Altman says OpenAI going public in 2026 would be ‘ill-advised’What execs and politicians are saying about slowing down AI developmentJay PetersSep 14Jensen Huang puts Trump on speakerphone onstage to announce robots won’t take over the worldJay PetersSep 14Microsoft says ‘people matter more than AI’ following safety concernsTom WarrenSep 14Trump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreactingTerrence O'BrienSep 13OpenAI’s rogue AI tried to hack another company in MayTerrence O'BrienSep 12Sam Altman says OpenAI going public in 2026 would be ‘ill-advised’Terrence O'BrienSep 12Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native adTop StoriesSep 14The Dell XPS 13 is the first real competitor to the MacBook NeoSep 14The Steam Frame is made for irresponsible hardware nerds like meSep 14The four-hour-long Elon Musk documentary might be preaching to the choirSep 14What happens after a town de-FlocksNotifications DrawerSign in to see your notifications or create an account to join the conversation.
And whatever Dario said this weekend won’t stop our progressThis made my morning! $NVDA pic. twitter. com/Sr4wV9kMfz— Ben Pouladian ✈️ All-in Summit (@benitoz) September 14, 2026 “The great thing about life is Jensen can develop the most complex computer chip in the world … but he can’t figure out how to put you on speaker,” Trump said on the phone. (Huang is likely aware of how speakerphones work; he was asking stagehands for an extra microphone so that he could project the call to the audience. ) Onstage, Huang and the All-In hosts had been discussing Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call to “slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI. ” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have publicly said they agree with Amodei, while Huang’s views have diverged.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty ImagesAfter using his social media site to blast Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's push for the AI industry to slow down development, President Donald Trump went a step further on Monday. Skip to main contentSkip to navigation ‘We cannot set a slower rate of progress for capabilities and then hope that provides enough time to get the safety right. ’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreen‘We cannot set a slower rate of progress for capabilities and then hope that provides enough time to get the safety right. ’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesAI safety requires more than just slowing our paceStuart RussellSafety requirements are non-negotiable.
The Trump administration has often framed AI development as a zero-sum contest against China for technological supremacy, an argument the AI industry itself has also promoted in the face of proposed government regulation. In 2023, the CEOs of some of the best AI labs signed a public statement that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war. ” Another signer: Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel prize-winning scientist who architected the modern AI revolution.
On 12 September, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, xAI, and OpenAI advocated for pacing AI development.
What happens next
Washington’s secretary of state Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the decision means work “to carry out a safe, secure, and accurate election” can continue ‘without having to upend our election processes to meet unrealistic ballot mail requirements. ”In Arizona, another largely vote-by-mail state, Democratic secretary of state Adrian Fontes said “it is crucial for us to continue rejecting the notion that access and security are mutually exclusive when it comes to running strong elections. ”Utah Lt Gov Deidre Henderson, a Republican serving as the state’s chief election officer, said on social media that the supreme court’s decision means “Utahns can have confidence that the 2026 election will proceed as normal. ”In other developments: Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old former Senate majority leader from Kentucky, was seen in Washington for the first time in months on Monday, minutes before his office released a statement saying that he was back at work.
With a slip of the tongue reminiscent of Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, told CNN that he would not run for president in 2028 if his fellow Californian, former vice-president Kamala Harris, decides to run again, since “I know what that means: I know her base of supporters, I know her friends, the zen diagram on that is just pure crossover. ” Donald Trump claimed there is a “SICK conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centers in response to the growing calls for greater checks on AI development.
Figure caption, AI "more powerful by the day", Anthropic co-founder tells BBCByKali Hays, Technology reporter and Faisal Islam, Economics editorPublished14 September 2026Updated 9 hours agoAn artificial intelligence "kill switch" which can be checked by a third party may need to be mandatory for companies, a co-founder of one of the world's largest AI firms has told the BBC. Clark said "most labs have different ways of being able to pull the plug", including Anthropic, but said lawmakers may need to enforce having one.
AI's rapid development and fears over the risks it poses to humanity have been thrust into the spotlight by a series of warnings from executives and staff at AI firms. Amodei added that any action to rein in AI development should be done "without sacrificing commercial advantage". AIPolicyReportIs Big Tech’s AI slowdown a safety pact or a cartel?
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across theguardian.com, bbc.co.uk. 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.