{"slug": "three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down", "title": "Three AI Titans, One Terrifying Warning: Amodei, Altman and Musk Say Slow Down", "summary": "Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX and xAI founder Elon Musk have backed calls to slow the pace of frontier AI development, with Altman saying \"I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier\" and Musk adding \"Dario is right.\" The push, joined by Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis, follows Amodei's essay We Must Pace the Frontier, which proposes stronger independent evaluations, democratic-country AI safety standards and a limited antitrust exemption for safety coordination, and it puts the executives at odds with President Donald Trump, who argues the US must win the AI race against China and has dismissed rogue-AI fears as a \"hoax.\" Anthropic alignment researcher Evan Hubinger has estimated the risk of AI killing all humans at more than 10 percent within the next decade, while former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said builders \"earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.", "body_md": "# Three AI Titans, One Terrifying Warning: Amodei, Altman and Musk Say Slow Down\n\n## AI leaders call for a slower pace as Trump pushes to maintain America's lead over China\n\nThree of the biggest names in artificial intelligence have reached a rare point of agreement, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX and xAI founder Elon Musk backing calls to pace frontier AI development.\n\nAmodei has argued that AI companies should slow the rate at which they improve advanced models, while Altman and Musk have backed his position. Their comments come as concerns grow over increasingly capable systems and the risks they could pose.\n\nBut President Donald Trump is pushing in the opposite direction.\n\nHis message is blunt: America must win the AI race against China. As Trump put it, '[Whoever wins AI, wins](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trump-rejects-calls-slow-ai-development-1819555).'\n\n## Amodei Calls for an AI Slowdown\n\nThe clash began with Amodei's essay, *We Must Pace the Frontier*, in which the Anthropic chief argued that developers should slow the rate at which they improve the capabilities of advanced AI models.\n\nAmodei proposed stronger independent evaluations, with outside experts given significant access to assess frontier systems. He also called for agreements among democratic countries on AI safety standards and international cooperation on security issues.\n\nHis proposal included a limited antitrust exemption to allow companies to coordinate on certain safety measures. The proposal has prompted questions about whether the industry's biggest players should be allowed to help shape the rules governing them.\n\n## Altman and Musk Back the Warning\n\nThe response from AI's biggest rivals was unusually quick.\n\nAltman said, 'I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier', while also committing OpenAI to independent evaluators with employee-like access.\n\nMusk was even more direct: 'Dario is right.'\n\nGoogle DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis also backed the direction of Amodei's argument, adding to the show of unity among leading AI companies.\n\nThese executives are leading companies competing to build increasingly powerful AI, yet they are simultaneously warning that the pace of development needs greater restraint and oversight.\n\nThat contradiction is now at the centre of the debate.\n\n## Trump Says 'Whoever Wins AI, Wins'\n\nTrump has rejected the idea that America should voluntarily slow down.\n\nWhile in Ireland, he argued that the US must [maintain its lead over China](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/us-china-ai-race-heats-up-trump-rejects-calls-slow-development-over-fears-losing-edge-beijing-1819576). He has since dismissed fears about rogue AI as a 'hoax' and described opposition to AI and data centres as a 'SICK conspiracy'.\n\nTrump has also argued that the US already has substantial regulatory powers over AI companies, while warning that excessive restrictions could hand China an advantage.\n\nThe White House position puts Trump directly at odds with some of the industry's most influential executives.\n\nVice President JD Vance has also questioned why AI companies are asking Washington to regulate them, suggesting such proposals could be a 'Trojan horse'.\n\n## Could AI Kill Humanity?\n\nThe slowdown debate has intensified after warnings from researchers inside the industry.\n\nFormer Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon publicly criticised the race towards increasingly autonomous and potentially self-improving AI. Coxon said the people building AI 'earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade'.\n\nAnthropic alignment researcher Evan Hubinger has also warned that [AI could potentially kill all humans](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ai-researcher-quits-anthropic-superintelligence-safety-warning-1819758), while giving his own estimate of the risk at more than 10 per cent within the next decade.\n\nThose are predictions, not established facts.\n\nBut the warnings matter because they come from researchers working directly on AI safety, and they have intensified questions about whether existing safeguards can keep pace with rapidly advancing systems.\n\nAmodei has previously warned about catastrophic AI risks, while Altman told Congress in 2023 that AI could cause 'significant harm to the world'.\n\n## Who Should Police AI?\n\nThat question is becoming almost as contentious as the technology itself.\n\nCritics argue that voluntary industry coordination could allow the largest AI companies to influence the rules governing them and potentially strengthen their position against smaller competitors.\n\nThat criticism does not establish that Amodei's proposal is motivated by self-interest. It does, however, explain why the proposed antitrust exemption has become one of its more controversial elements.\n\n## The AI Race Has Become a Political Fight\n\nThe dispute now stretches far beyond Silicon Valley.\n\nAmodei has argued that international cooperation is essential, while also acknowledging the danger of the US slowing down while China continues accelerating. China has pushed back against the argument, accusing Amodei of trying to hinder its technological progress.\n\nThat leaves an extraordinary divide.\n\nAmodei, Altman and Musk are backing a more measured approach to frontier AI development. Trump says America must win.\n\nThe question is no longer simply how fast AI can advance. It is whether the world's most powerful AI companies can slow the technology enough to improve safety without giving their geopolitical rivals an opening.\n\n© Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down", "canonical_source": "https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ai-leaders-call-slower-frontier-development-1819873", "published_at": "2026-09-15 13:48:12+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-15 14:49:23.645319+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Dario Amodei", "Anthropic", "Sam Altman", "OpenAI", "Elon Musk", "xAI", "Demis Hassabis", "Google DeepMind"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/three-ai-titans-one-terrifying-warning-amodei-altman-and-musk-say-slow-down.jsonld"}}