‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdown

Following warnings from whistleblowers regarding existential risks posed by advanced AI, industry leaders including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have proposed a plan to slow the pace of frontier model development. Amodei’s three-point strategy suggests implementing third-party safety evaluations, establishing common safety standards among democratic nations, and coordinating with global powers like China to prevent dangerous applications, such as biological weapon development. However, the proposal has faced significant skepticism. Critics, including AI expert Professor Stuart Russell, argue that the approach is fundamentally flawed, suggesting that safety requirements should dictate progress rather than merely slowing it down. Meanwhile, political figures close to the Trump administration have questioned the sincerity of these tech leaders, suggesting they should simply stop building superintelligence if they fear it. Other experts have dismissed the initiative as insufficient, calling for an immediate, indefinite international moratorium on frontier AI development instead.