Anthropic boss calls for AI slowdown, Altman and Musk agree

Dario Amodei, the head of AI company Anthropic, called on Saturday for the pace of development of artificial intelligence models to slow down and to be closely monitored, describing the risks associated with AI as "serious". His comments came a few days after AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who left OpenAI to join Anthropic, decided to leave the industry, accusing both US companies of "gambling with our lives" in the race to develop models capable of self-improvement. OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who owns xAI, quickly chimed in to say they agreed with Amodei's assessment, as pressure builds for improved oversight. "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain," Amodei wrote in a post on his personal website. "Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless. We have sought a middle way," said Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic with his sister Daniela in 2021. "But over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence....