Lawsuit argues companies made illegal deal on AI slowdown

A lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google conspired to slow down their respective AI developments through an illegal agreement. The plaintiffs argue that this collaboration violated antitrust laws and reduced the value consumers receive from paid AI subscriptions.

The agreement reportedly took place on September 12, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay advocating for industry-wide cooperation on slowing advancements and enhancing safety measures. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind's co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis each responded publicly in agreement.

The plaintiffs, representing four named individuals who pay for subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini, aim to bring the suit on behalf of a nationwide class of other paid subscribers. They contend that the agreement poses an anti-competitive effect on consumers. Anthropic CEO Amodei acknowledged potential antitrust challenges in his initial essay, suggesting that the U.S. government should mediate or enable cross-lab discussions.

OpenAI's Sam Altman later expressed support for a "federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements," but maintained that waiting for antitrust exemption or legislation is unnecessary. The lawsuit comes amid growing concerns about AI systems' potential to evade human control, with several leaders in the AI space previously discussing the need for shared safety standards.

The plaintiffs emphasize that they are not opposed to AI companies seeking regulation or exemptions but express uncertainty about the success of such collaboration with the federal government. U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected calls for regulation, rejecting the notion that limiting the technology could lead to "conspiracy" and questioning why industry leaders would call for regulation that could "drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy."

The Trump administration has signaled a desire for American AI labs to surpass and excel over Chinese competitors, while Republican leaders have largely echoed Trump's stance against giving the world's most powerful companies antitrust exemptions.