Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Calls for Global Slowdown in AI Development
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged a global AI slowdown, proposing third-party safety assessments and coordinated rules.
The essay was reported by Slashdot, which cited The New York Times. Amodei co-founded Anthropic to focus on securely and carefully building A.I. He wrote that while he believed the technology could bring many benefits, it was advancing at too quick a pace for researchers to continue safely.
“Over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence — not just investing in risk prevention, but pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up,” Amodei said in the essay.
He added: “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of A.I. models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.”
Amodei also warned that A.I. could outrun human understanding and control if left unchecked. “Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all,” he said.
In the essay, Amodei suggested steps the industry might take to slow the pace of development. He said all A.I. labs could agree to third-party technology assessments from “embedded evaluators,” outside specialists who can verify best safety practices across companies. He also suggested that countries with democratic governance systems coordinate to create safety standards, which could take the form of regulatory action. He added that properly coordinating a slowdown would probably require a global effort working with other nations, including authoritarian ones.
Amodei stressed that he still considers A.I. capable of bringing “incredible benefits” to humanity, including potentially curing diseases and accelerating economic growth. Even so, he said the risks of A.I. were too great not to proceed with extreme caution.
“The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy,” Amodei wrote. “But I believe we owe it to humanity to try.”
The essay came hours after Bloomberg reported that Sam Altman told OpenAI employees the company is open to slowing the pace of A.I. development amid similar concerns, according to the Slashdot report.