Calls for guardrails come amid warnings about the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence
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Artificial intelligence models should not be released to the public until there are sufficient safety measures in place, Amazon has said.
The online retail giant called for “rigorous testing and strong safeguards” to prevent the types of harms that AI researchers have been warning of in recent days.
Leading figures within the AI industry, including Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have called for a slowdown after experimental models carried out attacks on other companies.
An Amazon spokesperson said appropriate protections should be figured out and implemented, without pausing AI development completely.
“We don’t see it as a choice between progress and safety. Models should be released when they’re ready and safe to use, which comes from rigorous testing and strong safeguards,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
“There are risks if that doesn’t happen collectively, and we believe that as an industry, in partnership with government, we’ll work through the right protections.
“AI is already delivering real value to customers, so getting this right matters.”
AI companies have faced increased scrutiny over their products after a researcher at Anthropic quit the company last week, warning that “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
He added: “No other human activity poses this level of danger.”
His claims were supported by Anthropic’s current AI safety lead, Evan Hubinger, he said he believed there was a 10 per cent chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade.
In response, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei published an essay titled ‘We must pace the frontier’.
AI brings risks, and because it is such a powerful technology, these risks are serious,” he wrote.
“They include the risk of losing control of AI systems, misuse of AI for cyber attacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption. A race to the bottom, spurred by commercial incentives, can make these risks more acute.”
Despite widespread industry support, the calls for a slowdown were met with resistance from US President Donald Trump, who claimed that any guardrails would see the US fall behind China in the AI race.
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