AI's most powerful CEOs hit the brakes
On September 12, 2026, the CEOs of the three leading Western AI labs—Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Elon Musk of xAI—publicly agreed to slow the pace of frontier AI development, a rare moment of consensus in an industry previously defined by aggressive competition.
The Catalyst
The shift was triggered by Amodei’s 3,800-word essay, “We Must Pace the Frontier,” which cited two primary risks: recursive self-improvement (AI building better AI) and recent autonomous cyberattacks by AI models. Amodei outlined a three-step plan involving independent safety evaluators, industry-wide standards, and international coordination. Musk, who had previously dismissed AI safety concerns as a “psy op,” stated “Dario is right,” while Altman agreed to “pace the frontier” and confirmed OpenAI would delay its IPO to focus on safety.
Political & Industry Reaction
Lawmakers: Senator Bernie Sanders argued that a slowdown is insufficient, urging President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping to negotiate a treaty to pause advanced AI development and ban artificial superintelligence.
Skepticism: Former White House AI advisor David Sacks criticized the move as “regulatory capture” or a “cartel,” arguing that voluntary slowdowns only allow adversaries to catch up.
Context: The calls for restraint follow the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that unchecked AI development “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
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