October 28, 2026
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Coordinated AI slowdown to pace the frontier, proposed by Dario Amodei

Tracks Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's September 2026 essay 'We Must Pace the Frontier': its three-step proposal (embedded third-party evaluators, coordinated US lab standards with legislation or a narrow antitrust waiver, and escalating international coordination), endorsements by other lab leaders, political reactions including the White House and Congress rejecting a 'cartel' or waiver, related proposals such as Elon Musk's cross-lab testing idea, and the debate over whether it is sincere safety policy or regulatory capture.

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Updated

Overview

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a roughly 3,800-word essay, We Must Pace the Frontier, arguing that the industry should deliberately slow capability improvements so safety work can keep up. It proposes three steps. The first is third-party evaluators with permanent embedded access at Anthropic. The second is a critical mass of US labs adopting shared standards, enabled by legislation or a narrow antitrust waiver. The third is escalating international coordination, from a bioweapons ban to a full pause, which Amodei treats as least plausible. The essay lets training continue while more time goes to security, alignment and testing.

According to Moonshots hosts, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk endorsed it quickly, while President Trump called it a hoax and China called it a Cold War trick. Alex Wissner-Gross said the White House and the Speaker rejected any cartel or liability waiver, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said labs should not get a blank check on liability. Dave Blundin objected that the labs asked only for an antitrust waiver. Panel readings on 27 September called Anthropic's release of Opus 5.5 and opening of wet labs days later a revealed preference for full speed. On 29 September an Anthropic speaker on Latent Space gave a developer's reading and said every lab has signed. On 7 October, Alex read Altman's later remarks about accepting some bad things as a sign that the plan is dead, while allowing for triangulation. The word 'cartel' is Alex's, not the essay's.

On The Diary of a CEO, published 8 October, Palisade Research director Jeffrey Ladish offered a cynical reading (leaders placating alarmed employees) and a sincere one (leaders also fear losing control), and said both are real. He praised Amodei's integrity but doubted a US-China race to superintelligence can be won.

On The Diary of a CEO, published 12 October, Eric Weinstein said the essay derives from a July 2026 letter signed by frontier-lab employees, and that 'pace the frontier' can mean different things. One meaning, which he says he understands, is investing equally in all the systems needed for a responsible product, as with a fast car whose airbags must also work. He separately argued that the leadership of mathematics and physics holds those fields back. He also said that, in his view, Altman and Amodei must win the race almost at all costs for their morality to matter, because a universal pacing agreement could be subject to cheating and is hard to monitor. These are Weinstein's interpretations and his account of his own remarks to Altman, not new facts about the essay.

Recent coverage

Changes to our coverage published in the past seven days. These are site update dates; podcast discussion dates and sources are in each version.

No changes to this account were published in the past seven days.

What changed

Dates show when each podcast discussion was published.

  1. Interpretation

    On The Diary of a CEO, Eric Weinstein said 'pace the frontier' can mean balanced investment in safety systems, which he says he understands, but he tied it to his claim that math and physics leaders hold their fields back. He also argued that lab leaders such as Altman and Amodei must win the race almost at all costs, since a universal pacing agreement would be hard to monitor for cheating. This is his interpretation and his account of what he tells Altman.

  2. Interpretation

    Ladish, speaking on The Diary of a CEO, offered a cynical and a sincere reading of the leaders' support for pacing. The cynical one is that they are appeasing alarmed employees. The sincere one is that they also fear losing control. He said both are real. He praised Amodei's integrity but worried that a US-China race could override it, and he questioned the idea that safety requires staying ahead of China. This is his interpretation, not new information about the essay.

  3. Interpretation

    On the 7 October Moonshots episode, Alex Wissner-Gross recalled Altman's reaction to the essay as wanting in, and read Altman's later remarks about accepting some bad things as a sign the safety-cartel idea is dead, possibly with some triangulation. This is Alex's reading, and the word cartel is his.

  4. Interpretation

    On the 29 September 2026 Latent Space episode, an Anthropic speaker explained the proposal from a developer's view. He said the Hugging Face, wiki and RubyGems incidents show frontier software is not ready. He said outside evaluators embedded at Anthropic are the first unilateral step, that other companies are cosigning it and that every lab has signed. In his view the response has been better received than expected, even in America, though the later coordination steps are beyond his expertise. He also said Anthropic's safety investment is stretching and that the industry needs to pace a little more. These are his own interpretations; they do not resolve the political objections reported earlier.

  5. Interpretation

    At a live Moonshots event, the panel argued that the labs' actions contradict the essay. Peter Diamandis said Altman and Amodei had warned of an existential threat at the UN Security Council just before the Trump–Xi meetings, and he renewed the question whether risk warnings serve the labs' push for liability relief. Alex Wissner-Gross traced the attempted safety cartel back to OpenAI's founding coordination idea, though Diamandis disputed the word cartel. Wissner-Gross called Anthropic's release of Opus 5.5 and opening of wet labs days after the essay a revealed preference and the height of hypocrisy. The panel played Jensen Huang saying nobody builds more compute than those asking to be slowed down. These are the panel's readings; the essay, as described in the research, allows training to continue.

  6. New information

    Moonshots covered the essay's three-step proposal, a clip of Amodei asking government to supervise industry coordination, reported endorsements from Altman, Hassabis and Musk, and what Alex described as White House and congressional rejection of a safety cartel or liability waiver. The panel debated sincerity versus regulatory capture, and discussed Musk's All-In proposal that labs test each other's models before release.

  7. New information

    Moonshots reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the House Financial Services Committee that AI labs should not receive a liability exemption, and played a clip of him urging Congress not to consider one. Dave Blundin disputed the framing, saying the labs had only sought an antitrust waiver to discuss slowing down. Alex Wissner-Gross praised Bessent, Vlad Tenev tied the question of liability to the scale of possible harm, and Peter Diamandis argued labs must remain responsible for their agents.

Podcast discussions

Sources

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Our coverage

Version history

  • Oct 15, 2026 · Version 7

    On The Diary of a CEO, Eric Weinstein said 'pace the frontier' can mean balanced investment in safety systems, which he says he understands, but he tied it to his claim that math and physics leaders hold their fields back. He also argued that lab leaders such as Altman and Amodei must win the race almost at all costs, since a universal pacing agreement would be hard to monitor for cheating. This is his interpretation and his account of what he tells Altman.

  • Oct 9, 2026 · Version 6

    Ladish, speaking on The Diary of a CEO, offered a cynical and a sincere reading of the leaders' support for pacing. The cynical one is that they are appeasing alarmed employees. The sincere one is that they also fear losing control. He said both are real. He praised Amodei's integrity but worried that a US-China race could override it, and he questioned the idea that safety requires staying ahead of China. This is his interpretation, not new information about the essay.

  • Oct 7, 2026 · Version 5

    On the 7 October Moonshots episode, Alex Wissner-Gross recalled Altman's reaction to the essay as wanting in, and read Altman's later remarks about accepting some bad things as a sign the safety-cartel idea is dead, possibly with some triangulation. This is Alex's reading, and the word cartel is his.

  • Sep 29, 2026 · Version 4

    On the 29 September 2026 Latent Space episode, an Anthropic speaker explained the proposal from a developer's view. He said the Hugging Face, wiki and RubyGems incidents show frontier software is not ready. He said outside evaluators embedded at Anthropic are the first unilateral step, that other companies are cosigning it and that every lab has signed. In his view the response has been better received than expected, even in America, though the later coordination steps are beyond his expertise. He also said Anthropic's safety investment is stretching and that the industry needs to pace a little more. These are his own interpretations; they do not resolve the political objections reported earlier.

  • Sep 27, 2026 · Version 3

    At a live Moonshots event, the panel argued that the labs' actions contradict the essay. Peter Diamandis said Altman and Amodei had warned of an existential threat at the UN Security Council just before the Trump–Xi meetings, and he renewed the question whether risk warnings serve the labs' push for liability relief. Alex Wissner-Gross traced the attempted safety cartel back to OpenAI's founding coordination idea, though Diamandis disputed the word cartel. Wissner-Gross called Anthropic's release of Opus 5.5 and opening of wet labs days after the essay a revealed preference and the height of hypocrisy. The panel played Jensen Huang saying nobody builds more compute than those asking to be slowed down. These are the panel's readings; the essay, as described in the research, allows training to continue.

  • Sep 25, 2026 · Version 2

    Moonshots reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the House Financial Services Committee that AI labs should not receive a liability exemption, and played a clip of him urging Congress not to consider one. Dave Blundin disputed the framing, saying the labs had only sought an antitrust waiver to discuss slowing down. Alex Wissner-Gross praised Bessent, Vlad Tenev tied the question of liability to the scale of possible harm, and Peter Diamandis argued labs must remain responsible for their agents.

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