Leading US AI Companies Publicly Suggest Slowing AI Development

The Verge’s Sean Hollister reports that leading US artificial intelligence companies are publicly suggesting it may be time to slow the development of cutting-edge AI and “pace the frontier.”

The shift follows a summer in which rogue AI agents became reality and researchers warned that artificial intelligence could kill us all. It marks a contrast with the technology industry’s earlier “move fast and break things” approach, which some expected AI companies to adopt as well.

Leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and X are at least publicly acknowledging the idea of a superintelligence slowdown. The article questions whether these companies will actually reduce their pace, or whether their motivations are suspect.

It also raises questions about regulation, including whether anyone will intervene to regulate the companies in the way they have claimed to want for years. Another unresolved question is whether the companies will persuade world leaders that the US must “beat China” to superintelligence, creating pressure to move even faster.