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# Rivals back the slowdown call, and Hugging Face asks for a seat at the table
- URL: https://globalfeed.ai/en/rivals-back-the-slowdown-call-and-hugging-face-asks-for-a-seat-at-the-table/
- Published: 2026-09-13T23:07:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-13T23:07:24.000Z
- Description: Altman, Hassabis and Musk backed Amodei's proposal to slow AI. Hugging Face asked to join the independent evaluator program, while David Sacks accused the labs of wanting a cartel.
- Author: GlobalFeed Editor
- Tags: Hugging Face, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, AI safety, x-huggingface, x-AnthropicAI, dil-en, elle, video

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's essay "We Must Pace the Frontier", published on Saturday, drew quick responses from the biggest names in AI. Most backed it; some criticised it sharply.

## The proposal

Amodei proposes a three-step plan. First, every frontier AI company gives ongoing, employee-like access to embedded third-party evaluators such as METR, who verify adherence to safety commitments and report incidents. Anthropic says it has committed to this step unilaterally. Second, leading companies in democratic countries coordinate on common safety standards. Third, democratic and authoritarian governments coordinate.

## Who backed it

**Sam Altman (OpenAI):** "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier," he posted on X. "Committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same. We'll have more to share soon."

**Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind):** "Dario's essay points towards the right path forward. The details need working through, but the direction is correct for meeting this critical moment."

**Elon Musk:** "Dario is right that there should be some oversight. Peer review of AI by competitors is the right way to start this off." CNBC notes that Musk was long a harsh critic of Anthropic until SpaceX signed a major compute deal with the company in May. According to filings, Anthropic will pay SpaceX $1.25 billion a month through May 2029.

**Alexandr Wang (Meta):** did not address the essay directly, but posted that Meta Superintelligence Labs is rapidly scaling up the share of its effort that goes into alignment as its models become more powerful.

## Hugging Face: not behind closed doors

Hugging Face founder Clem Delangue pushed back from a different angle: "It's now clear that alignment is critical and won't be solved behind the closed doors of a handful of frontier labs." He announced the Open Alignment Initiative and asked to be part of the embedded evaluator program Amodei had committed to.

## The critics

David Sacks, Trump's former AI and crypto czar, wrote that he supports the labs slowing down if they believe their models are scary enough, but that they do not need anyone's permission: "Stop pretending antitrust law has to be suspended so you can form a cartel." In his view, slowing down is simply good business, given the product-liability exposure if their models enable something like a damaging cyberattack.

Security veteran Greg Linares objected to METR being treated as an authority on incident reviews. He argued the work should go to established security and incident-response firms, with the evidence made fully public.

Sources: [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/13/china-dilemma-ai-slowdown-anthropic.html?ref=globalfeed.ai), [The Stack](https://www.thestack.technology/altman-amodei-musk-call-for-ai-slowdown-as-hugging-face-warns-over-closed-doors/?ref=globalfeed.ai), [Dario Amodei](https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier?ref=globalfeed.ai).