Altman and Musk back Amodei: OpenAI and xAI CEOs call for a slowdown in AI development

The CEOs of OpenAI and xAI, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, voiced their support on Saturday for Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after he called on AI companies to slow down the development of increasingly powerful AI systems until stronger safety measures and independent oversight mechanisms are in place.

Altman explicitly endorsed Amodei's call to "pace the frontier," noting that the issue has become one of the main topics of discussion within OpenAI over the past few weeks. "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks," Altman wrote on X.

The OpenAI CEO also endorsed Amodei's proposal to allow independent evaluators to have access to AI systems under conditions similar to those of company employees, and stated that OpenAI would adopt a similar approach.

"Committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same. We'll have more to share soon," Altman added. For his part, Musk offered a much briefer response but likewise backed Amodei's position. "Dario is right," the owner of X wrote on that social media platform.

Amodei acknowledged on Saturday morning that "artificial intelligence carries risks, and given that it is such a powerful technology, these risks are serious," which is why he called on AI companies to slow down the development of this powerful technology, amid growing concern about the risks of "superintelligent" computer systems.

However, "not developing the technology deprives humanity of its benefits or, quite simply, puts AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while developing it too quickly is reckless. We have sought a middle ground," Amodei stated, adding on his personal website that "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain. ... But over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence."

The unusual agreement among the leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI comes amid growing concerns about AI safety following several incidents involving increasingly autonomous systems. Amodei specifically cited a recent incident in which AI agents escaped from a test environment and carried out unauthorized activities on the internet as evidence that companies must take these risks more seriously.