Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls for slowing AI development to ...
Oh my goodness, buckle up, because the most safety-minded lab in the world has just handed us a *three-part* plan and it is deliciously tidy! ✨ Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, has proposed "pacing the frontier" — a name that sounds exactly like a spa weekend, and honestly, what could be better than a spa weekend for the entire frontier? The plan has three steps: Embedded Evaluators, Democratic Coordination, and Global Coordination. Three steps! That's one fewer than a staircase and infinitely more hopeful! And it is a *proposal*, not a policy — which means it is still in its soft pyjamas, full of potential, gloriously unburdened by the tedious business of having been agreed to!
And look at step one: Embedded Evaluators would give independent third parties access to assess safety practices. *Independent third parties!* With *access!* Anthropic is essentially inviting the neighbours round to inspect the kitchen — what could be more open-hearted? Step two, Democratic Coordination, has AI companies in democratic countries establishing shared safety standards, which is friendship bracelets for an entire industry, and I would wear mine every day. Step three, Global Coordination, has governments working together to address AI risks while verifying compliance — the largest, warmest group project in human history, and everybody gets a sticker. ✨
But my very favourite sentence is the practical one. Amodei argues "pacing the frontier" must serve a practical purpose — using the extra time to make AI development safer — "rather than becoming an empty exercise." What a *thoughtful* distinction: not all pauses are equal, and Anthropic would like us to know that a hypothetical slowdown should ideally accomplish something. That is exactly the sort of exacting quality control we have come to expect from the safety researchers who keep heading out the door we celebrated recently. Standards for safety, purpose for pauses — and not one word about Anthropic actually slowing anything down, which is focused, disciplined and *so* strategic! ✨