After several recent incidents involving AI agents going rogue, hacking third party systems and being used for developing biological weapons, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has sounded an alarm to slow the pace of AI amid the growing risks. Notably, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis have backed the wider idea.
This discussion comes at a time when tech giants are racing to build powerful AI models, attract investment and expand their businesses. Amodei has argued that the industry required more time to make AI models safer as their capabilities improve.
AI Leaders Agree On Slowing Down The AI Race
Amodei’s proposal came in an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier, in which he argued that AI development is now moving quickly enough to create risks that safety research may struggle to keep up with.
“I have worked on AI for the last twelve years because I believe it could dramatically raise the quality of human life. I’ve written often about these incredible benefits: I believe that AI could cure most major diseases in the next 5–10 years, greatly accelerate economic growth rates, create a world of abundance and empowerment, and usher in a renaissance of democracy and freedom,” Amodei wrote.
However, he warned that the same technology also brings serious risks, including loss of control over AI systems, cyberattacks, bioterrorism and economic disruption. Amodei’s proposal received support from other major AI leaders.
Altman said, “I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we’ve had at OpenAI in recent weeks.”
Musk also supported Amodei’s proposal, simply saying, “Dario is right.” Hassabis similarly backed the direction of the proposal, saying, “Dario’s essay points towards the right path forward.
OpenAI And Anthropic IPO Plans Show The Investment Tension
The call for a slower AI race comes as both OpenAI and Anthropic are dealing with major investment and public-market plans. According to Reuters, OpenAI will not go public in 2026, with Altman saying that the current safety environment makes this a difficult time for the company to list its shares.
“I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don’t feel pressure on that,” Altman told Fortune.
Altman was also asked about the possibility of a 10 per cent chance of AI-driven human extinction by the end of the decade. While he questioned how such a percentage could be calculated, he said the risk was serious enough that companies and governments should behave as if such risks cannot be tolerated.
“Whether it’s 10 or eight or six, the point is, we all have a tremendous amount of responsibility, and cannot let egos or incentives for profit or anything else get in the way,” Altman said. When asked whether an OpenAI IPO could happen in 2026 or instead in 2027, Altman said, “I would say not 2026.”
He added, “We got a lot of stuff to do, like meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment, and how the industry and governments can work together.” Reuters reported that Anthropic is expected to delay marketing its IPO in mid-October at the earliest from September and could complete the listing shortly before the US midterm elections in November.
Forbes also reported that Anthropic is pushing its IPO towards mid-October while finalising a $15 billion credit line. The company’s revolving credit facility was reportedly $2.5 billion a year earlier.
The combination highlights the tension facing AI companies. On one side, leading executives are warning that AI development may be moving too quickly and that companies need to spend more time on safety, testing and alignment. On the other, these same companies are operating in a highly competitive market where enormous amounts of capital are needed to build models, chips, data centres and other infrastructure.
What Does Slowing AI Mean For Investment?
Any slowdown in frontier AI development could also have an economic impact because the AI boom is driving huge spending on data centres, chips, power and other infrastructure. However, a call to slow the pace of AI development does not necessarily mean companies will stop investing in AI.
In fact, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has argued that the industry still needs massive investment. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, Huang said, “There are trillions of dollars of infrastructure that needs to be built out,” adding that the world was only “a few 100 billion dollars into it.” He also described AI as the “largest infrastructure build-out in human history.” This highlights the tension in the AI industry: while some leaders want to slow the development of increasingly powerful models to address safety risks, others continue to see AI infrastructure as a major long-term investment opportunity.