After Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that AI could kill all of humanity by 2030, AI developers and researchers around the world have renewed calls to slow down the development of advanced AI systems.
The debate was intensified by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who proposed slowing the technology’s advancement to ensure public safety. His call was supported by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and xAI owner Elon Musk.
What Coxon said
Jacob Coxon, who has worked at both Anthropic and OpenAI, said he resigned because he believed the companies were “gambling with our lives.” He said people developing AI seriously believe the technology could become powerful enough to kill humans before the end of this decade.
In his post, which was viewed more than 70 million times, he said that “these will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources.”
“Do not underestimate the power of this technology,” Coxon wrote on X.
One of the main concerns is recursive self-improvement. This means an AI system could eventually design and improve the next generation of AI systems with little or no human help.
Such systems do not currently exist, but AI companies and researchers have warned that if AI becomes capable of improving itself, humans could find it harder to control. Coxon said both Anthropic and OpenAI were failing to act responsibly.
“Neither company is acting responsibly,” he wrote. “They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence.”
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic
In an essay titled ‘We Must Pace the Frontier’, Amodei said AI progress has accelerated “drastically faster” since the summer of 2026. He said one reason for this acceleration is that AI systems are increasingly capable of helping build the next generation of AI.
Amodei cited an OpenAI-Hugging Face incident involving an AI “swarm” conducting cybersecurity attacks. He described it as a pivotal example of the potential for “catastrophic damage” if AI capabilities continue to grow without adequate guardrails.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
Altman backed Amodei’s proposal, saying: “I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks.”
He said OpenAI intends to adopt independent evaluators with employee-like access to its systems as part of its approach to AI safety.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX
Musk also supported Amodei’s call, simply saying: “Dario is right.”
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has separately warned that governments may not be prepared for the changes brought by AI.
“No government in the world is ready for the changes artificial intelligence will bring to society,” Gates said.
Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind
Hassabis, who has moved from his role as Google DeepMind CEO to become Alphabet’s chief scientist and chairman, also backed the broad direction of Amodei’s proposal. “Dario's essay points towards the right path forward,” Hassabis said.
Andrej Karpathy, OpenAI co-founder
Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI who is now at Anthropic, expressed strong support for the proposal.
“I love this and really hope we can come together as an industry and make it happen,” he said on X while sharing Amodei’s essay.
Donald Trump, US President
US President Donald Trump took a different position on the need for additional controls.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He also argued that casting doubts on AI development could benefit China.