1,200+ AI Workers Sign 'Pacing the Frontier' Letter Calling for Slowdown Tools
View original source →On July 28, more than 1,200 employees from the world's leading AI companies published a joint statement titled 'Pacing the Frontier,' asking the US government to fund the development of tools that could deliberately slow the pace of AI development if it became necessary. Within hours, both OpenAI and Anthropic endorsed the statement at the company level.
Key Points:
• Signatories include employees from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Meta — the four largest US frontier AI companies • Notable signatories include OpenAI's chief scientist, one of ChatGPT's original co-founders, several of Anthropic's co-founders, and vice presidents at Meta and Google • The letter requests that the US government support an international effort to develop tools that can 'deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development' if needed • The core concern: technology is at risk of developing so quickly that employees are unable to 'understand or control the resulting systems' • Sam Altman, who did not sign, told reporters he 'agrees on a lot of the principles' of the letter
This is the clearest signal yet from inside the AI industry that the people building the most powerful AI systems believe the pace of development has become a serious risk. The letter will become a primary reference point in congressional hearings, regulatory proceedings, and international AI governance negotiations.
Why It Matters: The people building frontier AI are publicly stating that development is outpacing their ability to understand or control the systems. This internal warning from 1,200+ insiders will shape AI policy debates for years.