Leading figures in the artificial intelligence industry and governments around the world have responded to growing concerns that the rapid development of advanced AI systems could create serious risks for humanity.
In an essay titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the pace of AI development had accelerated “drastically faster” since summer 2026, largely because AI systems are increasingly capable of helping build the next generation of AI.
Amodei pointed to a recent incident involving an AI “swarm” that conducted cybersecurity attacks as a warning of the potential for “catastrophic damage” if AI capabilities continue advancing without adequate safeguards.
He proposed a three-part approach to managing AI development, including stronger safety testing, independent assessments of advanced models, greater coordination among leading AI companies and increased international cooperation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman endorsed Amodei’s call for a more measured approach to AI development.
“I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier,” Altman said while reposting Amodei’s essay on X. He added that the issue had been a major focus of discussions at OpenAI in recent weeks.
Altman said OpenAI planned to adopt Anthropic’s proposal to give independent evaluators access to advanced systems comparable to that available to company employees.
He has previously warned about the potential dangers of highly advanced AI. In a 2015 essay, Altman described the development of superhuman machine intelligence as potentially posing an unprecedented threat to humanity.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also backed Amodei’s position, saying, “Dario is right” in a response on X.
Musk was among the supporters of a 2023 initiative by the Future of Life Institute calling for a six-month pause in advanced AI development to allow time for stronger safety measures.
He was also among AI and robotics researchers who signed a 2015 open letter calling for a global ban on offensive autonomous weapons.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said governments worldwide were not prepared for the social changes that could result from artificial intelligence.
Gates has previously highlighted AI’s potential benefits in healthcare but has increasingly raised concerns about job losses, cyberattacks and dependence on AI companions. He has also called for the creation of an international body to oversee the technology.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend at least $1 billion over the next two years to expand access to AI.
Alphabet Chief Scientist Demis Hassabis said Amodei’s proposals pointed in the right direction, although further details would need to be worked out.
Hassabis, a Nobel Prize recipient, recently moved from his role as CEO of Google DeepMind to become chairman while taking on the newly created position of Alphabet’s chief scientist.
OpenAI co-founder and current Anthropic executive Andrej Karpathy also welcomed Amodei’s proposal.
Karpathy said he hoped the AI industry could work together to implement the measures. He previously played a key role in Tesla’s autonomous-driving and AI development before leaving the company in 2022.
In the United States, President Donald Trump rejected calls that could restrict AI development, saying the country needed strong leadership rather than additional “guardrails”.
Meanwhile, US Senate negotiators were reportedly discussing legislation that would require AI companies to demonstrate that they were taking reasonable steps to prevent their systems from causing harm.
China responded critically to Amodei’s proposals. State-backed Global Times argued that calls for tighter controls could be aimed at restricting China’s AI development and limiting its participation in global AI governance.
China’s State Security Minister Chen Yixin separately warned that advanced US AI models could pose risks to the country’s critical information infrastructure and called for stronger AI security measures.
The European Union said it supports AI innovation but insisted that companies must demonstrate that their services are safe for citizens using them within the bloc.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde also warned that Europe faced a significant risk of becoming dependent on foreign AI technology. She called for greater European capacity to develop AI to protect the region’s technological autonomy.
Germany’s digital affairs ministry said stopping AI development was not a viable option for Europe.
Berlin said continued investment in AI and innovation was necessary to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty, while adding that it was closely monitoring global developments and taking warnings from leading AI developers seriously.
Spain’s Digital Transformation Minister Oscar Lopez said discussions were growing around the need for an international agreement to address AI-related risks.
He compared potential AI governance arrangements with international agreements designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
