Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has opposed calls for an industrywide agreement to slow the development of artificial intelligence, saying individual AI companies should determine their own pace based on safety concerns.
“I don’t think that we need some kind of industrywide coordination,” Zuckerberg said. He argued that each AI laboratory should take the time necessary to address safety issues internally before moving ahead with development.
His comments come as several prominent figures in the AI industry have called for greater coordination over the pace of technological development amid concerns about increasingly capable systems.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently urged AI companies to work together to “pace the frontier” of development. The proposal received support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis and xAI founder Elon Musk.
Zuckerberg said individual companies could slow or temporarily pause their AI development when they identify safety concerns rather than adopting a coordinated industrywide approach.
He also pointed to consumer demand as a commercial incentive for companies to ensure their AI products are safe, reliable and useful.
“I happen to think that there’s plenty of commercial incentive to get this right,” Zuckerberg said.
The Meta chief executive said AI developers should focus on ensuring that systems understand users’ preferences and intentions and handle such information responsibly, rather than concentrating primarily on catastrophic scenarios.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric that is filled with doom,” Zuckerberg said, adding that he remained optimistic that AI could contribute to a positive future.
The debate over the pace of AI development has intensified as researchers and technology executives raise concerns about the risks associated with increasingly powerful systems.
Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned in early September, citing concerns about the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems and criticising the safety approaches adopted by leading developers.
Meta has also faced legal challenges in the United States over allegations concerning the potential impact of its social media platforms on children and teenagers.
According to the claims, Meta designed its platforms to encourage addictive use among young people and failed to adequately disclose associated risks.
The proposed settlement would require Meta to introduce daily usage limits for teenage users, strengthen age-verification measures and provide additional tools for parents and guardians, according to the company.
