Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, said on Saturday that companies should ease the speed of AI development. He argued that moving too quickly could put people at risk. Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who have clashed for years, both said they agreed with that view after he posted the statement.
Amodei published a long message on X. He said, “I believe that AI could cure most major diseases in the next 5–10 years, greatly accelerate economic growth rates, create a world of abundance and empowerment, and usher in a renaissance of democracy and freedom.” He also said rapid progress could produce a “misalignment” with humans and risk “catastrophic damage.”
He wrote, “Like many technologies before it, AI brings risks, and because it is such a powerful technology, these risks are serious… They include the risk of losing control of AI systems, misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption. A race to the bottom, spurred by commercial incentives, can make these risks more acute.”
Musk and Altman voiced support the same day Amodei posted on X
Amodei added, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.” Musk reshared Amodei’s post on X one hour after it went up. Musk wrote, “Dario is right.”
Altman then posted his own comment. He wrote, “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 also said, “Committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same. We’ll have more to share soon.”
Musk leads Tesla and SpaceX and is also the man behind SpaceXAI, the AI company he launched in 2023. Grok, that company’s model, is the built-in AI on X. Altman is the chief executive of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
The two men have been public rivals. Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024 after the company left its original nonprofit aim. The rivalry highlights broader tensions in the AI industry, as Meta recently unveiled a new model while Zuckerberg urged Washington to help beat Chinese rivals. Musk lost that lawsuit in May.
Musk has said for years that AI could wipe out humans if it is not controlled. He testified in the OpenAI trial earlier this year that he feared a “Terminator outcome” in which the technology could go rogue and “kill us all.” He has also said he puts the chance that AI kills off all humans at between 10-20%.
The backing from Musk and Altman arrived as AI safety talk intensified. A former Anthropic researcher warned that AI could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” A day later, a former OpenAI researcher told Joe Rogan that AI was “basically on a track” to take control away from humans.
Published: Sep 13, 2026 11:00 am