Anthropic Policy Chief Rejects AI Honor Code as Science Corp CEO Pitches Brain-Computer Future at Disrupt 2026

Heck’s comments came days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on the industry to deliberately slow the pace of model development. Amodei proposed a three-step plan on Saturday to temper how quickly model capabilities improve without “sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States’ lead in AI,” according to CNBC. The proposal followed warnings from industry researchers last week about AI’s potential to cause catastrophic harm.

Tech leaders quickly split over the idea. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Google DeepMind Chair Demis Hassabis voiced support for Amodei’s proposal. “Dario is right,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Saturday. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg were less convinced that development needs to be intentionally slowed. At Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference on Tuesday, Huang said the industry does not need new laws or regulations, adding that speed and safety are not mutually exclusive, though companies should pace themselves until they are sure they are releasing products ready for launch.

Zuckerberg echoed Huang’s comments on Tuesday and said Meta delayed the release of Muse, its personal AI agent, for “several months to focus on safety and security.” “We didn’t call for everyone else to do this before we would,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post on X. “We just did it as part of our day-to-day work because it was clearly the right thing for people and for us.”

Heck said Wednesday that Anthropic talks to the White House on a “daily basis” and has been working with Congress “all year.” She said the company is making an effort to ask “the hard questions now,” adding that if the industry does not start thinking about difficult issues such as China, AI regulation and safeguards now, it may be too late.

Separately, TechCrunch reported that Science Corporation CEO Max Hodak, who co-founded Neuralink in 2016 and served as its initial president, will use a session at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to argue that the next era of technology could be built on brain-computer interactions rather than screens. His company has enlisted a top neurobiologist to lead the first U.S. human trials for its biohybrid brain-computer interface, according to TechCrunch. At the “Beyond Screens” session on the Disrupt Stage, Hodak will make the case for an interface that adapts to users through brain-computer interactions.

Science Corporation, founded by Hodak in 2021, develops advanced neural engineering and brain-computer interface technology, with a focus on applications to aid people who need help with vision, cognition and mobility. TechCrunch reported that the company’s PRIMA implant has already restored eyesight in people with severe vision loss, using a pair of glasses with a tiny camera that beams a captured scene onto a chip implanted in the retina. Since its founding, Science Corp has raised $230 million in a Series C round at a $1.5 billion valuation.

Hodak also sees additional applications for Science Corp’s brain-implanted sensors, including helping heal damaged brain cells, warning about seizures and possibly helping treat conditions as severe as Parkinson’s disease, TechCrunch reported. Disrupt is scheduled to return to Moscone West in San Francisco on October 13-15, bringing together more than 10,000 founders, investors and startup community members across more than 250 sessions. This year’s event has a particular focus on building sustainable AI companies, with AI-centric programming extending across six industry stages, according to TechCrunch.