Lawsuit says Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google made illegal agreement on AI slowdown

A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google conspired to limit the pace of their respective AI developments in exchange for avoiding antitrust issues. The lawsuit claims that the companies colluded to coordinate advancements in September, particularly after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay advocating for industrywide cooperation on slowing down AI development for enhanced safety measures.

The plaintiffs argue that this agreement would reduce the value consumers receive for paid AI subscriptions and violate antitrust laws, as it would prevent a competitive market from fostering genuine progress and responsible development. The plaintiffs, who pay for subscriptions to services like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini, are seeking class-action status on behalf of other paid subscribers.

While the companies have not commented, Amodei acknowledged potential antitrust challenges in his initial proposal and suggested the U.S. government issue a narrow waiver for safety conversations. The lawsuit contends that the AI companies are not opposed to federal regulation or antitrust exemptions but are opposed to colluding with one another, fearing it could lead to their downfall.