Over 1,200 Frontier AI Employees Urge Government to Slow Down AI Development

S_OhEigeartaigh · x · 2026-07-31

An open letter named Pacing the Frontier has garnered significant attention, signed by 1,293 employees from frontier AI companies.

Key Points and Appeals:

Risk Warning: The letter states that while AI could create a dramatically better future, this is not guaranteed. Leading companies believe they are close to automating AI research, risking an acceleration in capability development beyond our ability to understand or control.
Competitive Dilemma: Companies and countries face intense competitive pressure, preventing them from unilaterally slowing down acceleration.
Policy Request: The signatories request the U.S. government to support an international effort to develop technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development.

Expert Feedback:

John Schulman: Signed because it helps establish common knowledge about the possible need for coordination mechanisms as automated AI research accelerates.
Shengjia Zhao: AI is progressing at a rate society might not be ready for; frontier labs are close to AI that exceeds humans on almost every metric of intelligence, posing unprecedented risks.
SOhEigeartaigh: Endorsed the letter, noting terrifyingly high odds of failure, estimating a 40% chance of an outcome as bad as human extinction or worse.

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