Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Say More Trending Now Mashable Selects Creator Playbook Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices Safety Net Versus All Series OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has recently called for slowing the pace of AI development over public safety concerns. Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men's grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men's product review and lifestyle website. As a writer for GQ, he covered everything from bull-riding competitions to the best Legos for adults, and he's also contributed to publications such as The Daily Beast, Gear Patrol, and The Awl.

This weekend, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, posted an essay calling for a brake on the pace of development of LLMs . Amodei cites the looming dangers he sees from the technology, from its use in cyberattacks and bioterrorism to its potential to wreck the economy. The heads of the other three top US AI labs--OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chairman Demis Hassabis, and SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk--voiced their support. "Dario is right," Musk wrote on X . Think about how surreal that agreement is for a moment. Just a few months ago, Musk and Altman sat in court attacking each other's reputations in a (failed) lawsuit that Musk brought against his former OpenAI colleague that was--on paper at least--about whether or not Altman was a trustworthy steward of such dangerous technology.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. 'Cognitive stunting' and the potential threat generative AI poses for children's brains A Los Angeles Unified School District pupil uses an artificial intelligence-assisted learning platform in March 2024. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search.

Donald Trump said China would benefit from a slowdown in US AI development. Donald Trump said China would benefit from a slowdown in US AI development. President hits out after Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders back call to limit'reckless' development Donald Trump has dismissed calls to increase controls on AI as a "sick conspiracy", as stocks linked to the technology slumped after appeals from leading developers on the weekend for the industry to slow down. The US president wrote on social media: "The only control or'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the USA has that, in spades!" It came after the chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, appealed for the AI industry to limit "reckless" development .

Sam Altman and Elon Musk have backed calls from Anthropic's Dario Amodei to put brakes on'reckless' AI development

SoftBank gets upsized $11.9 billion loan in OpenAI funding push SoftBank Group secured an $11.87 billion two-year loan from about 20 banks to support its investment in U.S. artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, exceeding its earlier $10 billion target. SoftBank Group secured an $11.87 billion loan to support its investment in U.S. artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, people familiar with the matter said, up from its earlier target of $10 billion. The Japanese conglomerate sealed the two-year facility last week, attracting commitments from around 20 banks, said the people, asking not to be identified because they're not authorized to speak publicly. The financing comes as some executives are now voicing the need to slow the pace of AI development due to escalating risks from the technology. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said in an interview with Fortune that his company wouldn't proceed with a public offering this year as it addresses safety-related concerns.

When Astra does arrive, there's another factor to keep an eye on: your usage allowance. According to OpenAI, Astra can use up your allowance more quickly than GPT-5.6 Sol, depending on the complexity of the task, the amount of context, the reasoning required and other usage settings. So a big coding assignment that requires more reasoning can use more of your allowance than a quick question. OpenAI estimates that Plus users can send approximately five to 45 local Astra messages per five-hour period.

As OpenAI's Hugging Face incident has brought discussions about AI safety to the forefront, the company's CEO has clarified that it will not be looking to file for an initial public offering in 2026. In an interview with Fortune, Sam Altman said that "given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public." In response to a question about OpenAI going public in 2026 or 2027, Altman said "not 2026," contradicting a report from earlier this year that the AI giant would file for an IPO as soon as September. Instead, Altman suggested that OpenAI will be focusing on AI safety and alignment, while still being interested in making improved models and products. Beyond the Hugging Face incident, OpenAI's agents reportedly once again broke out of testing environments to hack into two other organizations, RubyGems and DseWiki.

Questions mount over what an AI'slowdown' would look like There has been no shortage of warnings from AI's top bosses about existential threats over the years. I attended the world's first AI safety summit in Bletchley Park in November 2023 where the focus was on the most serious threats imaginable, posed by the most powerful AI models. At the time, many thought this was in the realm of sci-fi and the real threats were comparatively far more mundane: job losses, cheating in exams. Three years later, many of those same voices don't seem to be so sure. On Saturday head of AI company Anthropic, Dario Amodei, urged the pace of development to be slowed down - the bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk said they agreed with him.

Growing numbers of US lawmakers are calling for new rules after cases of AI agents going rogue and researchers quitting over safety concerns. Growing numbers of US lawmakers are calling for new rules after cases of AI agents going rogue and researchers quitting over safety concerns. OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back calls to put brakes on'reckless' AI development Sam Altman and Elon Musk have backed a call from the head of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, to "slow the pace" of AI development after he warned that an AI swarm could otherwise become capable of "taking over the entire internet" within a year. In a rare show of unity, the rival technology leaders threw their weight behind the appeal from the founder and chief executive of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, which came after a series of warnings from AI researchers last week. In an essay, Amodei laid out his thoughts on "why the AI industry should slow down", with a three-part plan for doing so, starting with giving independent monitors constant access to developers' research processes.