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

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, recently voiced his backing for the concept of "pacing" AI development. Altman maintained that safety should not mean a complete halt in progress within the AI sector. Speaking to AFP, Altman added his support to the idea of "pacing" AI development, meaning that cutting-edge models shouldn't progress faster than humans' capacity to control them.

While acknowledging that this shift towards safety would come at a cost, Altman emphasized that it would be worthwhile to maintain confidence in US companies developing increasingly capable artificial intelligence responsibly. Altman noted that no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness or let capabilities surpass alignment and monitoring.

He clarified that the idea of "pacing" does not equate to stopping progress, stating, "When we talk about 'pacing', we do not mean 'stopping'." Altman's comments follow a rare collaboration between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and SpaceXAI's Elon Musk, who both advocated for slowing down AI development. In a recent conversation with OpenAI staff, Altman had expressed openness to slowing down advancements in frontier technology to better understand the risks and confirmed that the company would not go public in 2026 while prioritizing safety-related concerns.

Following Altman's post on X, AI-related stocks in Asia experienced a decline. SoftBank Group Corp's shares fell by 13% in Tokyo, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both saw their shares drop by more than 4% in Seoul. In his X post, Altman reiterated OpenAI's support for a federal AI framework and highlighted the need for AI firms to receive assistance from Washington with international coordination.

He pointed out that even if US AI firms were to slow down their development, Chinese competitors would not follow suit.