What an AI slowdown could mean

The increasingly urgent pleas from leading tech executives to slow the advance of artificial intelligence are confronting one daunting obstacle: It’s not entirely clear how they could do that. A slowdown could involve releasing frontier models less frequently, requiring approval before deploying systems with powerful cyber or biological capabilities, giving independent monitors access to AI labs, or negotiating limits with China. The debate intensified after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a proposal Saturday calling for a more deliberate pace of AI development—a pitch that soon drew endorsements. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk, Google DeepMind Chair Demis Hassabis, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella soon voiced their agreement.