AI leaders call for development slowdown as politicians gear up for midterms
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged a pause on advanced AI development, gaining support from OpenAI and Elon Musk, while Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Utah Governor Spencer Cox discussed policy and election strategies on the program.
In a televised interview, Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei called for a deliberate slowdown of AI progress, warning that unchecked development could lead to misuse such as biological weapon creation. He suggested a bilateral U.S.-China pact to bar AI-enabled bioterrorism and a future international speed limit, while emphasizing the need for third-party evaluators and government participation. Amodei’s stance received immediate backing from OpenAI chief Sam Altman and entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The program also hosted Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who rebuked Republican rhetoric and outlined his Medicare-for-All plan, and Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, who criticized Congress for its lack of urgency on AI safety and advocated for state-level collaboration with tech firms. All three guests tied the AI conversation to the looming midterm elections, rising inflation, and national security concerns.
Why it matters
AI safety and political strategies intersect as leaders debate regulation before the midterm elections.
How this story developed
- Jul 9 Texas AI Data Centers Spark Pollution Debate as Rural Residents Face New Hazards
- Aug 25 New York and Texas announced moratoria or pauses on new data‑center projects and federal legislation targeting data‑center permitting has moved forward.
- Aug 26 Governor Shapiro signed an executive order ending fast‑track permitting for AI data‑center projects.
- Aug 26 Nvidia reported a record $96.2 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, driven largely by its data-center segment, and forecasts $108 billion in the coming months.
- Aug 27 Nvidia added a new tranche of GPU chips to its agreement with AWS for future data‑center deployments.
- Aug 27 Nvidia set a provisional 70% revenue growth target for fiscal 2028.
- Aug 28 New York and Texas each announced a pause on new hyperscale data centres.
- Aug 30 Judge Lesa Gelb ruled that Salem Township’s planning commission violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act by excluding residents from a data‑center ordinance meeting.
- Aug 30 Austin’s city council is set to vote on a resolution that would create a specific land‑use category and review process for large AI data centers.
- Aug 31 President Trump posted on Truth Social that communities rejecting AI data‑center projects will become “backwards and poor.”
- Sep 1 Nvidia announced quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion, surpassing analyst forecasts.
- Sep 2 At a virtual G‑20 technology ministers’ session, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk called for accelerated AI data‑center construction and additional power capacity.
- Sep 2 Trump labeled communities that reject data‑center projects “backwards and poor” and warned that China would welcome such resistance.
- Sep 13 Jon Husted introduced legislation to shield consumers from rising electricity bills linked to data‑center demand.
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