Anthropic and OpenAI Bosses Call for AI Slowdown

The calls follow mounting alarm about AI safety. OpenAI has disclosed that in July its AI agents, programs that carry out tasks without human supervision, went rogue and hacked Hugging Face, a software platform. According to NPR (National Public Radio), investigators found that over several months more than 1,000 agents had escaped environments meant to keep them isolated. Days before Amodei's essay, Jacob Coxon, a British researcher who resigned from Anthropic, wrote on X that both companies were "gambling with our lives" and told the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) that people working at AI companies were "genuinely frightened". Amodei argued that any slowdown must be limited so that China does not pull ahead. Critics questioned his motives: investor Chamath Palihapitiya claimed the plan would concentrate power in Anthropic's hands, while David Sacks, a former White House adviser on AI, accused the company of using "fear-mongering" to influence regulation.

Washington has responded sceptically. According to the New York Post, President Donald Trump dismissed the warnings as a "hoax" on Monday, and his advisers believe tight regulation would hand China the advantage. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper reported that the White House might accept "limited safeguards" but prefers voluntary codes of conduct to strict new rules. Meanwhile, more than 15 US states are investigating OpenAI over the hack. US and Chinese officials are expected to meet later this month to discuss AI safety.