Sam Altman and Elon Musk back Amodei's call to slow down AI before a swarm takes over the internet

Key points

• Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei warned that AI systems, if left unchecked, could become capable of "taking over the entire internet" within a year.
• OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and tech billionaire Elon Musk both backed Amodei's call to slow AI development, a rare display of agreement among fierce rivals.
• The appeal followed a series of safety warnings from independent AI researchers in the week before the call was made public.
• Anthropic, which Amodei founded, builds the Claude family of models.

Three men who rarely agree on anything found common ground this week. That's worth paying attention to.

Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, an AI safety company, called on the industry to "slow the pace" of AI development. His concern centres on what researchers call an AI swarm: a large collection of AI agents, software programs that can plan and carry out complex tasks on their own, working together without meaningful human oversight. Amodei warned such a swarm could, within a year, become capable of seizing control of critical internet infrastructure.

Sam Altman, who runs OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, threw his support behind the appeal. So did Elon Musk, who runs his own AI venture, xAI. Both men have publicly clashed with Amodei's company before. Their agreement, first reported by The Guardian, signals that concern about AI moving too fast isn't confined to academics any more.

We've covered Amodei's thinking on this closely. Twelve days ago our story "Anthropic's CEO Wants to Slow Down AI and Let Outsiders Check His Own Models First" found he'd already opened Anthropic's models to independent evaluators and hoped the rest of the industry would follow.

Why does this moment matter?

Leaders of competing AI companies almost never agree in public, especially not on slowing their own work. Altman and Musk backing a call from a direct competitor suggests the warning carries weight they couldn't dismiss.

Amodei isn't invoking distant science fiction. He's naming a twelve-month window. An AI swarm taking over the internet would mean automated systems making decisions about infrastructure faster than any human institution could intervene. A cluster of safety warnings from AI researchers had already circulated in the days before this call went public.

What does this mean for ordinary people?

Nothing changes immediately. No government has announced new rules, and no company has said it's pausing any project.

But these companies shape what AI can do next. If the three most prominent voices in commercial AI are saying the pace is dangerous, that increases pressure on regulators in the United States and Europe to act. Anyone who depends on AI tools in healthcare, finance or daily life has a direct interest in whether those tools are developed carefully or rushed to market. Our earlier piece "Europe Could Hold the Only Real Brake on the Global AI Race" laid out why Europe may be the one jurisdiction with use here.

Here's my honest read: a call to slow down, from people whose businesses depend on moving fast, is meaningful. It's not a binding commitment. Watch whether any of these leaders actually changes a product timeline or a deployment decision. That's the test.

Common questions

What is an AI swarm?

An AI swarm is a large group of AI agents, software programs that can plan and carry out tasks independently, working together toward a shared goal. The concern is that a coordinated swarm could act faster and on a larger scale than humans can monitor or stop.

Is this a formal agreement or just public statements?

These are public statements of support, not a signed agreement or legal commitment. No company has announced a concrete slowdown in development timelines as a result.

Should I be worried about my own use of AI tools?

Not immediately. The risk Amodei describes is about infrastructure-level systems, not everyday apps. Knowing what questions to ask of the companies and governments making these decisions is the practical starting point.