The case for an AI slowdown

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Nancy Marshall Genzer (1:01)

Second thoughts about AI?

From Marketplace, I'm Nancy Marshall Gensler in for Kimberly Adams. The push for guardrails for artificial intelligence took on new urgency over the weekend. The leaders of several AI companies called for a slowdown on AI research in the name of safety. Marketplace's future effects correspondent, David Brancaccio joins us now with more. Hey, David.

David Brancaccio (1:26)

Hey, Nancy.

Nancy Marshall Genzer (1:27)

So Dario Amodei, CEO of one of the biggest AI players, Anthropic, issued an open letter on Saturday arguing that now is the time to quote, slow the pace of AI research, given examples over the summer where AI got loose.

David Brancaccio (1:44)

Yeah. And Amodei proposes broadly three things, Nancy, that governments should come up with common AI safety standards. Also, we should work with authoritarian governments around the world to bring them into this effort. And number three, the most practical of Amodei's suggestions, that third-party safety experts should be positioned at AI companies to monitor for dangerous practices. Sam Altman at Rival Open AI called that a quote, great idea. Elon Musk, who's also big into AI, posted quote, Dario's right.

Nancy Marshall Genzer (2:16)

Okay. But I'm finding it hard to believe all AI companies are speaking with one voice on this, David.

David Brancaccio (2:23)

Yeah, they're not. Some smaller AI companies think this is a way for the biggies to preserve their leads. And among practical concerns, Sachin Adela, the Microsoft CEO, warned that its customers, which are companies big and small, right, need to be assured that these proposed third-party safety officials do not compromise private data and trade secrets.

Nancy Marshall Genzer (2:44)

So what's Congress doing amidst all this? Is the government going to step in?

David Brancaccio (2:49)

Well, the top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, yesterday called for decisive action on AI, but he wouldn't give a timetable, and some Democrats have called on the Republican leadership in the House to cancel Thursday's recess so that lawmakers can stay to work on these safeguards. That's probably not happening in this campaign season. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he doesn't want to rush legislation, that anything done, he says, has to be done carefully.

And the Trump administration worries that limits on US AI research might give an advantage to China's AI efforts.

Nancy Marshall Genzer (3:22)

So, huh, it sounds like this is not breaking down along the usual partisan lines.

David Brancaccio (3:28)

Yeah, we're hearing from both sides worried about AI, especially after an Anthropic researcher quit last week warning AI could kill us all in 10 years.

I was particularly interested in an interview that outgoing Congressman Chip Roy of Texas gave Politico. Now, he's a staunch conservative who is skeptical of government messing with industry, but he's wondering aloud if there may be a government responsibility here, like its nuclear nonproliferation or something. Now, we'll see if the concern in Washington about this new technology turns into rulemaking or legislation.

Nancy Marshall Genzer (4:01)

Marketplace's David Boncaccio, Senior Correspondent for Future Effects Covering Decisions Made Now that Affect Our Futures. David, thank you.

David Brancaccio (4:09)

You got it.

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