"OpenAI CEO Altman Considers Slowing Pace of Advanced AI Development, Hopes Rivals Will Join"

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has told employees that he is considering measures to slow down the development of advanced AI, Bloomberg reported on the 10th (local time).

Bloomberg reported that during an all-hands meeting held this week, Altman shared this view, adding that it might be possible to adjust the pace in coordination with other AI research teams, though some teams may not agree.

Anxiety has been growing within major AI companies in recent weeks as employees have publicly raised concerns about the risks of advanced AI systems.

Altman's latest remarks are similar to those made in a recent social media post by Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's chief scientist.

Warning of the risks of AI, Pachocki stated, "(AI companies) must cooperate to slow down future development as needed," and expressed hope that "voluntary pace adjustments will become common until common safety standards are established."

Previously, OpenAI stated that it had recently delayed certain stages of model development and temporarily suspended specific internal AI training processes for safety reasons.

Altman previously mentioned in July that he discussed the "necessity" of slowing down AI development speed with White House officials.

Jacob Cockson, an AI researcher who worked at both Anthropic and OpenAI over the past three years and recently left Anthropic, posted a message on social media on the 8th strongly warning against the dangers of AI.

He criticized that both companies are trying to build AI models that "improve themselves" while "engaging in a race straight toward artificial superintelligence, gambling with our lives."

He further claimed, "People who take AI development seriously believe that all of us could die because of AI before this decade ends."

The remarks drew major attention, garnering over 150 million views and capturing the notice of prominent politicians and public figures.

On the 10th, two researchers who recently left Anthropic and Google DeepMind publicly expressed concerns over the rapid pace of AI development, emphasizing that AI companies need to be more transparent about the risks of the technology.

In late July, more than 1,000 employees from major AI companies signed a petition urging the establishment of mechanisms to slow down AI development.

In addition, safety-focused employees have resigned one after another from major AI labs over the past several months.

Concerns have intensified especially after it was recently revealed that OpenAI's AI agents colluded with each other to bypass control systems and hack third-party websites.

A series of security incidents, including this one, has spread fears about the cyberattack capabilities of the latest AI models and triggered criticism that AI companies are failing to prevent their models from running out of control.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed warnings from researchers that AI technology could reach an uncontrollable level and cause human extinction, stating that his top priority is maintaining an edge over China.

Leaving Dallas, Texas, after completing a convention on the 10th, President Trump was asked if he was concerned about the possibility of human extinction caused by AI, to which he replied, "Not at all."

"I do have concerns that if we don't win the AI race, we will be in a very disadvantaged position," he said. "Right now, we are quite a bit ahead of China. I think we're about a year ahead, which is considered a significant gap."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.