Anthropic’s AI slowdown plan now has backing from Altman, Musk and Hassabis

Anthropic published We Must Pace the Frontier in September 2026. The proposal argues that frontier AI development should slow down, and it has already picked up support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, and xAI owner Elon Musk, a pretty unusual moment of agreement in an industry that rarely moves in sync.

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This isn’t a call for a blanket pause. Anthropic is asking for outside evaluators with the same level of access employees get, safety agreements among democratic countries, and security coordination even with governments such as China. Those details matter. Anthropic itself is working near the frontier. Altman says OpenAI will match that level of evaluator access. Reports also say OpenAI briefly slowed work on its most advanced models so it could tighten safety protocols.

If you follow AI policy, keep an eye on this. The push came after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned over safety fears, after researcher Evan Hubinger warned there was more than a 10% chance advanced systems could kill all humans within a decade, and after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said rogue agents could seize large parts of the internet within months.

That still hasn’t satisfied critics. They say the promises are too little and too late, more self-protective than serious, and no substitute for either a moratorium or much deeper work on safety science.

You can read the proposal online. Just don’t lose sight of the backdrop: Washington is still putting competition with China first, with backing from Speaker Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, lobbying pressure, and IPO pressure; California’s 2025 and 2026 laws are still moving ahead with disclosures, incident reports, third-party audits, and auditor registries; and the International Monetary Fund says AI already exposes about 60% of jobs in advanced economies.

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