AI Leaders Discuss Coordinated Slowdown Amid Safety Fears

Leading artificial intelligence companies are discussing a coordinated slowdown in the development of advanced AI systems, a move sparked by growing safety concerns but met with skepticism about its true motives. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a detailed essay over the weekend calling for a pause, citing risks such as recursive self-improvement, where AI models could train and advance themselves without human oversight. Amodei warned that such capabilities could "outrun our ability to understand and control these systems." The call has received public support from other top AI executives. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk both expressed agreement with Amodei's conclusions on social media. According to Chris Lehane, OpenAI's global policy chief, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind have been in discussions for weeks about AI safety and risks. "It's better to try to work together to prioritize safety," Lehane said.