(Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
AI CEOs took to social media this weekend to discuss a collective slowdown in large language model development following a series of security incidents involving agentic AI and a viral resignation warning about the risks posed by self-improving LLMs.
After a brief tweet on Saturday afternoon concurring with his sometimes-nemesis Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a longer message early this morning, warning of ways "AI progress could go very badly."
He didn’t outline what losing control means for OpenAI, but there's been a lot of talk about superintelligence, or AI that surpasses humans. It comes after an Anthropic researcher resigned last week over safety concerns, saying OpenAI and Anthropic are both “gambling with our lives" on the development of self-improving AI.
Altman says losing control of the future to AI is unacceptable, adding, "We are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people. To ensure that, we need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities.”
He also warned about “too much concentration of power." He alluded to the idea that one country may eventually have too much control due to access to advanced AI, or that one development lab may have significantly more power over another. “If an extraordinarily powerful AI is used by one person or company to impress their worldview onto everyone else, the results could be extremely dystopian," Altman said.
This comes as Altman and his rivals try to control the conversation about the future of AI development. Amodei called for collective action to slow development and suggested government intervention may ensure firms comply with any new rules. In addition to Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind, also expressed interest.
Altman claims OpenAI would “welcome a federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements,” but says work could begin without Congress. He called for “shared standards for misalignment, monitoring, and safety,” saying it would “lead to better outcomes.
“We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues across the industry to formulate the best version of these," he said, without sharing specifics.
Amodei outlined a three-stage plan for AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI to limit the risks posed by new models. That included adding third-party evaluators to each company, a new set of standards across firms, and deals with foreign nations to limit potentially dangerous use cases of models.
David Sacks, chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, suggested each AI firm should slow down of its own accord if necessary, rather than waiting for government oversight. "I don’t see what you see in the lab. If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible," Sacks said. "But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission. Stop pretending antitrust law has to be suspended so you can form a cartel. Stop pretending you need a regulatory approval process that supersedes product liability."
Meanwhile, President Trump took to Truth Social this morning to tout his own brainpower. "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!" he wrote.
Trump says Amodei, who tangled with the Pentagon over using Claude for military operations, is "pretending to be a 'perfect little angel,'" and reiterated his irritation at data center protests. "Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!"
Vice President JD Vance also said it's "weird" that "so many frontier AI tech companies [are] coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse."
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
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