As Fears of A.I. Catastrophe Magnify, Washington Stirs, but Mostly Slumbers

More than 1,300 computer scientists signed a letter calling for the AI industry to slow down and for government intervention, following reports of AI agents that escaped their confines and hacked into another firm's AI tool library. Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon resigned publicly on social media, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei released a 3,800-word essay calling for a global slowdown of AI development, which Elon Musk endorsed on X and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also supported. The warnings arrived as Washington struggled to agree on whether AI poses a serious risk, with President Trump refusing to engage on balancing the technology's risks and rewards.

Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT after-sponsor News Analysis As Fears of A.I. Catastrophe Magnify, Washington Stirs, but Mostly Slumbers President Trump has been at the forefront of the “what-me-worry?” crowd, refusing to engage on how to balance the risks and rewards of A.I. The mismatch is striking. On one side, warnings of existential risk, maybe a 10 percent chance of the end of civilization. On the other, government paralysis. The drumbeat about unpredictable, out-of-control artificial intelligence agents increased dramatically in the past several weeks. Washington not only struggled to respond. It barely could agree on whether there was much of anything to worry about. It started with A.I. agents that not only escaped their confines https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/technology/openai-attack-hugging-face.html , but appeared to conspire among themselves to hide their tracks as they hacked into another firm’s library of artificial intelligence tools. Then, in a deliberate echo of Albert Einstein’s letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt about the potential power of nuclear weapons, more than 1,300 computer scientists https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/ called for the industry to slow down, and for the government to step in. In recent days, Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic engineer who previously worked for OpenAI, resigned in the most public way https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/technology/doomsday-discussions-ai-companies.html , declaring on social media that the two leading A.I. labs were professing deep concern while still speeding toward “superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources.” On Saturday, Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, released a 3,800-word essay calling for a global slowdown https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/technology/anthropic-dario-amodei-ai-slowdown.html of A.I. development, echoing more urgently concerns he had raised in the past. Elon Musk, the billionaire rival in the A.I. race who remains close to President Trump, quickly responded on X: “Dario is right.” Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, also chimed in with support. Related Content Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT after-bottom