Critics label Big AI's proposed development slowdown a market lockout strategy
Major AI labs including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have proposed a coordinated slowdown in frontier AI development, citing safety risks and requesting antitrust exemptions to implement shared standards. This initiative has sparked intense backlash from industry peers and political figures who view the move as a mechanism to entrench a duopoly rather than ensure public safety.
Key points
- Anthropic and OpenAI propose a coordinated frontier AI slowdown with antitrust exemptions, citing safety.
- Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez criticizes the plan as a cartel designed to create high barriers for competitors.
- President Trump dismisses AI safety warnings as a hoax, while Democrats support the proposed slowdown.
Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez described the proposal as a "cartel by another name," arguing that the required barriers to entry—such as massive compute resources and dedicated safety infrastructure—would effectively lock out smaller competitors and weaken open-weight AI. Niels Rogge of Hugging Face dismissed the safety concerns as "bizarre nonsense," suggesting the labs are primarily motivated by protecting their competitive edge against emerging Chinese models and open-source alternatives.
The debate has also become highly politicized. White House AI advisor David Sacks acknowledged the duopoly but argued the slowdown is driven by liability concerns rather than altruism. President Donald Trump dismissed AI takeover warnings as a "hoax" and a political scam, while former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris supported the labs' push for transparency and caution.
The story so far
7 episodes →- Critics label Big AI's proposed development slowdown a market lockout strategythis story
Not everyone is convinced that Big AI's proposed development slowdown is really about safety
The Decoder · 15 September 2026
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This text was published by The Decoder and written by Matthias Bastian. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
Coverage and discussion
2sources- Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone????Press · The Verge AI ·
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