How AI leaders and world governments react to 'AI doom' fears

How AI leaders and world governments react to 'AI doom' fears.

Key points

• Musk was among backers of a 2023 push by the non-profit Future of Life Institute to halt AI development for six months to allow time for safety guardrails.
• Karpathy, a highly influential member in the AI community, was central in developing Tesla's self-driving and AI technology before leaving the firm in 2022.
• He was additionally among a group of AI and robotics researchers who wrote an open letter in 2015 that advocated a global ban on "offensive autonomous weapons".
• Google confirmed last month that Hassabis, a Nobel Prize recipient, would take the newly created title of Alphabet's chief scientist and transition from DeepMind CEO to its chairman.
• Digital Transformation Minister Oscar Lopez remarked there was growing discussion concerning the need for an international agreement to manage AI risks, likening some proposals to nuclear non-proliferation agreements.

How AI leaders and world governments react to 'AI doom' fears. Reuters Published September 15, 2026 Updated September 15, 2026 07: 24pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pressed a slowdown in the pace of advanced AI development on Saturday, winning rare backing from SpaceXAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and sparking a debate over AI "doomerism".

Here is what some AI leaders and world governments remarked concerning risks associated with AI. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic.

In an essay titled "We Must Pace the Frontier", Amodei remarked AI progress has accelerated "drastically faster" since summer 2026, driven primarily by AI's growing ability to build the next generation of AI.

He cited the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident, where an AI "swarm" conducted cybersecurity attacks, as a pivotal event demonstrating AI's potential for "catastrophic damage" if capabilities grow without guardrails.

Amodei proposed a three-step plan for pacing AI development, including stronger safety testing and independent evaluations of advanced models, coordination among leading AI firms and international cooperation. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

"I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks, " Altman remarked as he reposted Amodei's post on X.

He remarked OpenAI intends to adopt the idea proposed by Anthropic by committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access.

Altman had cautioned concerning the risks well before the current AI boom. In a 2015 essay titled "Machine Intelligence, part 1", he remarked the "development of superhuman machine intelligence is probably the greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity". Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX.

"Dario is right, " the billionaire entrepreneur remarked on X, responding to Amodei's post.

He was additionally among a group of AI and robotics researchers who wrote an open letter in 2015 that advocated a global ban on "offensive autonomous weapons". Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft.

"No government in the world is ready for the changes artificial intelligence will bring to society, " Gates informed Reuters.

For context, the billionaire philanthropist had been optimistic regarding AI's health applications, but has lately cautioned of threats to jobs, worries regarding attacks and the dangers of addiction to AI companions, and called on an international organisation to manage the technology.

Gates' namesake foundation intends to spend at least $1 billion in the next two years on expanding people's access to AI. Demis Hassabis, chief scientist at Alphabet.

"Dario's essay points towards the right path forward, " the former CEO of Google DeepMind remarked in a response to Amodei's X post, adding the details needed to be worked through.

Google confirmed last month that Hassabis, a Nobel Prize recipient, would take the newly created title of Alphabet's chief scientist and transition from DeepMind CEO to its chairman. Andrej Karpathy, OpenAI co-founder, now at Anthropic.

"I love this and really hope we can come together as an industry and make it happen, " the founding member of OpenAI remarked on X while sharing a screenshot of Amodei's essay.

Karpathy, a highly influential member in the AI community, was central in developing Tesla's self-driving and AI technology before leaving the firm in 2022. He joined Anthropic in May.

"The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the USA. Has that, in spades!" President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that China would benefit from doubt being cast on AI development.

In practice, a Senate aide and a lobbyist familiar with the matter remarked Senate negotiators were debating legislation that would require AI businesses to demonstrate they are taking reasonable precautions to keep their tools from causing harm.

State-backed Global Times remarked in an editorial that the true agenda of Amodei's essay was "to attempt to curb China's AI development through technological barriers and regulatory monopolies, uphold Washington's monopolistic hegemony in cutting-edge technology, and exclude China from the global AI governance system."

China's state security minister, Chen Yixin, wrote in a administration outlet that advanced US models such as Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5-Cyber could pose serious risks to China's critical information infrastructure, and called on a comprehensive strengthening of AI security.

"The European Union is in favour of developing innovation in artificial intelligence, but companies have to prove their services are safe for citizens to operate in the bloc, " European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier remarked.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde cautioned the EU was facing an unprecedented risk of being cut off from AI, saying Europe needed to become a producer of AI technology to preserve its autonomy.

"We do not consider halting (AI) development to be a viable option for Europe, " Germany's digital affairs ministry remarked, adding that strengthening Europe's digital sovereignty required further AI development and innovation.

Berlin remarked it was monitoring global AI developments highly closely and took public warnings from leading developers seriously.

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