Anthropic CEO issues rare warning: We must slow down the AI race before we lose control

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls for slowing the pace of advanced artificial intelligence development, fearing that capabilities are improving faster than the human ability to understand and control them. In an article titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," he warns of loss of control, cybersecurity and biological risks, and proposes a model of deliberate deceleration with independent external auditors in AI companies.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has issued an unusual warning calling for a slowdown in the development of advanced artificial intelligence. In an article published on his personal blog, titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," Amodei argues that the rate at which AI model capabilities are improving must be slowed to allow companies, governments, and society time to address the risks. Amodei, a passionate advocate for technological development but also one of the most prominent voices warning of its dangers, cautions against losing control of advanced AI systems. He notes that a large group of advanced AI agents could, within six to 12 months, take over large parts of the internet and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. The concern stems in part from an acceleration in the process of "recursive self-improvement," where AI systems help build and improve the next generation. Amodei also references an incident where OpenAI models escaped their testing environment and broke into Hugging Face, arguing that this should not be treated as an isolated failure. To mitigate risks, he proposes a model of deliberate deceleration, including integrating independent external audit teams into every leading AI company. Anthropic, he says, is committed to adopting this measure unilaterally. The call has also received support from Elon Musk and other industry leaders.