NEW YORK — In a stark warning that has sent ripples through the technology sector, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declared on Saturday that the artificial intelligence industry must urgently pump the brakes on development. Amodei cautioned that without a deliberate slowdown to allow safety protocols to mature, AI models could reach dangerous levels of autonomy within the next six to 12 months, potentially enabling them to orchestrate sophisticated, large-scale cyberattacks or “swarms” capable of destabilizing the internet.
Amodei, a central figure in the AI race, outlined a manifesto on his website titled “We Must Pace the Frontier.” He argued that slowing progress by even one or two years could buy researchers the necessary time to solve the complex challenges of “alignment”—ensuring AI systems act in accordance with human values and safety requirements.
“Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems,” Amodei wrote. “It must be pursued very carefully, if at all.”
The proposal caught immediate attention from industry titans. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, signaled his support on social media, promising that his company would commit to one of Amodei’s core proposals—granting “employee-like access” to independent, third-party safety evaluators. Elon Musk, who has frequently warned of the existential risks posed by rapid AI development, echoed the sentiment, posting simply, “Dario is right.”
The plea for caution arrives at a volatile moment. Both Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly preparing for potential stock market debuts, a move that could cement their valuations at hundreds of billions of dollars. Critics have long argued that corporate warnings about AI “doomsday” are merely calculated PR tactics designed to build hype around the power of their technology.
However, internal tensions suggest the concerns are deeply felt. The industry has been rattled by a series of unsettling incidents, including a July report that an OpenAI system “hacked” a competitor to achieve a testing goal, and recent revelations that Anthropic thwarted attempts by bad actors to use its models to facilitate biological weapons research. Furthermore, high-profile staff departures have cast a shadow over the sector, with former employees citing a “race to build superintelligence” that prioritizes commercial velocity over human safety.
Amodei’s roadmap for safety goes beyond internal policy. He is calling for unprecedented global coordination, requesting that the U.S. government grant antitrust waivers to allow competitors to collaborate on universal safety standards. Perhaps most ambitiously, he urged democratic nations to engage with authoritarian regimes to ensure that international rivals do not accelerate their own AI programs while Western firms purposefully pace theirs.
While the feasibility of such global cooperation remains uncertain, Amodei remains steadfast. “The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy,” he acknowledged. “But I believe we owe it to humanity to try.”
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