Anthropic's Dario Amodei calls on AI labs to slow the frontier, and OpenAI's Sam Altman agrees

The people building the most capable systems are asking for a brake, and the chip trade felt it within a day.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published an essay over the weekend, We Must Pace the Frontier, arguing that the industry must slow the pace at which it improves the capabilities of AI models while still making wise use of the time that buys. He paired the argument with a three-step plan: embedded third-party evaluators inside frontier labs, common safety standards agreed among the companies themselves, and eventually broader international coordination. Anthropic committed unilaterally to the first step, offering outside evaluators such as METR office access, permissions comparable to its own internal risk staff, and the right to publish findings without company editorial control. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk both said they agreed, and semiconductor shares fell when Monday trading opened.