OpenAI, Anthropic ask U.S. government to consider slowing down AI

So the two biggest players in the AI arms race have finally asked the U.S. government to consider slowing things down. OpenAI and Anthropic endorsed a letter from hundreds of AI employees requesting exactly that. This is like a pair of drug dealers calling a press conference to say 'maybe we should regulate meth,' after they've already cooked and sold a ton of it. The letter is a masterclass in having your silicon cake and eating it: look responsible while doing nothing. 'Consider' slowing down — not actually slow down, just 'consider.' That's the tech industry's favourite verb: it means 'we'll have a meeting about it, then carry on as usual.' Meanwhile, both companies continue to train and deploy models with fewer safety checks than a food truck in a monsoon. The gall is breathtaking. We're supposed to applaud them for acknowledging the problem they created, while they lobby behind closed doors against any actual regulation. One almost admires the chutzpah — almost.

The letter is signed by hundreds of employees — the very people who work on these systems — yet it's the CEOs who decide the pace. And what have these CEOs done? Sam Altman and Dario Amodei have both publicly called for regulation while privately racing to release increasingly powerful models. This is the same OpenAI that fired its safety team and then rehired some of them for PR optics. The same Anthropic that touts its 'responsible scaling' but conveniently defines 'responsibility' as 'whatever doesn't slow us down.' Asking the government to step in is the ultimate hedge: if things go wrong, they can blame Washington for not acting; if things go well, they take the credit.

This letter will likely be cited in congressional hearings for years, filed alongside other earnest pleas for oversight that accomplished precisely nothing. The U.S. government, which can barely pass a budget, is unlikely to legislate AI in a meaningful way anytime soon. So the request is pure theatre — a safety valve for employees who are uncomfortable, and a PR boost for companies that want to appear virtuous. The systems will keep accelerating, the warnings will keep coming, and somewhere in a Senate committee room, a polite staffer will place this letter into a folder marked 'Noted.' Cheers.