OpenAI’s Altman voices support for ‘pacing’ AI development

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Sunday added his support to the idea of “pacing” AI development, so that cutting-edge models don’t outrun the ability of humans to maintain control.

Altman, echoing the language of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, said there’ll be a cost to this shift of focus to safety, but it’ll be worth it in order to maintain confidence that US companies are developing increasingly capable artificial intelligence responsibly.

“No amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring,” the OpenAI chief said in a post on X, emphasising also that the idea of ensuring safety doesn’t mean halting progress. “When we talk about ‘pacing’, we do not mean ‘stopping’.”

The comments come shortly after Amodei and SpaceXAI boss Elon Musk, in a rare moment of unity, called for tapping the breaks on AI development. Altman earlier this month told OpenAI staff that the startup is open to slowing advances in frontier technology to better understand the risks, and he has also confirmed that the company won’t go public in 2026 while prioritizing safety-related concerns.

AI-related stocks in Asia fell on Monday. Major OpenAI investor SoftBank Group Corp’s shares dropped 13% in Tokyo, while South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both shed more than 4% in Seoul.

In his Sunday post on X, Altman reiterated OpenAI’s support for a federal AI framework, and said that AI firms need Washington’s help with international coordination, amid widespread concerns that even if US AI firms slow down their development, Chinese rivals will not do so.