OpenAI and Anthropic release statements in support of the “Pacing the Frontier” initiative; Anthropic says Dario Amodei and several co-founders have signed it

More than 1,100 employees from leading tech firms on Tuesday urged the U.S. government to support an international effort …

Reuters 2026-07-29 Anhata Rooprai

Context & Ripple Effects

The initiative follows a letter signed by more than 1,100 AI-company employees, turning an employee-led request into a position publicly backed by two leading labs. It also extends a pattern of AI workers organizing around government-facing decisions, seen when staff from OpenAI and Google supported Anthropic in its dispute with the Defense Department.

First-order effects

OpenAI and Anthropic put their institutional weight behind the employees’ request, while Amodei and Anthropic co-founders add visible personal endorsement.
The signatories gain stronger backing for presenting AI-development pacing as an issue requiring U.S. government engagement, not solely internal company policy.

Second-order effects

Other frontier-AI employers face greater pressure from employees and external stakeholders to state whether they support the initiative or offer an alternative governance position.
For policymakers, the alignment of staff and lab leadership makes the request harder to frame as isolated employee activism and raises its salience in AI-policy discussions.

Third-order effects

If such alignment persists, workforce advocacy may become a recurring channel through which frontier labs establish legitimacy and influence the terms of government engagement.
The broader contest over AI development is moving toward institutionalized negotiation among labs, employees, and the state, though this endorsement alone does not determine policy outcomes.

The trend: Frontier AI governance is increasingly being shaped through public alignment between lab leadership and employee coalitions seeking a larger state role in setting the pace of development.

Discussion

@openai @openai on x
At the core of our mission is working through how to ensure increasingly powerful AI benefits everyone. We believe that, at some point in the future, AI acceleration for frontier model development may be so high that the world will need to pace the rate of AI advancement. We ho…
@anthropicai @anthropicai on x
We support this petition, signed by our CEO, several co-founders, and senior staff. Our own research on recursive self-improvement, published last month, points to the need for tools to deliberately pace the frontier of AI development so society can prepare. We're glad to see bro…
@max_paperclips Shannon Sands on x
Many thoughts on this. Not all of them negative, depending on what the “pacing” …
@w01fe Jason Wolfe on x
OpenAI has said that humans should remain in control of AI development, and that decisions …
@wholemars @wholemars on x
Anthropic comes out in support of “Pacing the frontier”
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Dario Amodei has signed. [image]
@willdepue Will Depue on x
lab coordination guys! it's not impossible, i believe. awesome to see
@ataeime Mehdi Ataei on x
I love OpenAI but the self-inflicted stagnation of labs must not become the ceiling for everyone else. Companies have no divine right to stay in first place, nor should they be permitted to rebrand their dethronement as a safety crime committed by those who outpace them.
@yonashav Yo Shavit on x
actual props
@gailcweiner Gail Weiner on x
No I dont want the US globally controlling AI
@teortaxestex @teortaxestex on x
Masterful counterattack by Anthropic. The phrasing is immaculate too. Might work. [image]
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
RSI RSI RSI “Our own research on recursive self-improvement, published last month, points to the need for tools to deliberately pace the frontier of AI development so society can prepare.”
@ccatalini Christian Catalini on x
What's the next move to get China at the pacing table? How will we monitor defection through shadow GPU fleets?
@rand_longevity Rand on x
there is no wall
@shakeelhashim Shakeel on x
Wow — an endorsement from OpenAI. [image]
@gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x
Dario has now signed this and Anthropic as a company officially supporting it. This makes more sense than half the c-suite signing it. I still think policy class and regular people are deeply skeptical of these letters, especially when they're signed by people with the power to a…
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
Wow. AI researchers from every major lab (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) signed a petition asking …
@daveshapi David Shapiro on x
“We don't want to lose our lead, so please help us kneecap everyone else” Come on guys. You can't sign the open weight pledge and then drop this stupidity 24 hours later. Everyone needs to read up on Red Queen Theory. But furthermore, they need to read about offensive realism to …
@kimmonismus @kimmonismus on x
A year ago, hardly anyone would have thought this possible. A total of 1,132 employees …
@patrickmoorhead Patrick Moorhead on x
This “sounds” in practice really nice, but it will never happen. No country will stop or slow down. They may say they will, but they won't. I guess if it gets out of hand these companies have a “told you so moment.” What nonsense.
@abhominedeus Ab Homine Deus on x
How many lives will this cost? I mean that in a very literal sense. How many people are they willing to sacrifice to maintain the status quo. Aging and disease on the verge of being solved but yeah sure let's pump the brakes.
@iamemily2050 Emily on x
As expected, there is no hope from OpenAI and Anthropic; they want to stay ahead of everyone while using these cheap tricks to eliminate any competition. There are so many people dying every day from all types of diseases with no cure available; instead of solving these problems,…
@j_asminewang Jasmine Wang on x
happy that OAI is supporting this collective statement on main - I think it's the first employee statement on slowdown & I hope it shifts the Overton window further that a real slowdown option (via the USG) is plausible & desirable, from the folks working closest to the frontier
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
It is their company. They could just stop.
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
The Chief Scientists of Thinking Machines, META, Anthropic and OpenAI all signed.
@herbiebradley Herbie Bradley on x
dario using sam's strategy on the 2nd open letter of the last two weeks
@gallabytes @gallabytes on x
I did not sign this petition fwiw. Still not at all convinced that slower is safer than faster. With strong benevolent institutions slower is probably safer on net, but with our current crop it's a much more mixed bag.
@dylan522p Dylan Patel on x
Slowing down AI is a ultimately wishful thinking The genie is out of the bottle The most importan competition ever with potentially immeasurable benefits to the winner will not suddenly have people stop and sing kumbaya While many lab employees have signed, many more havent. Prac…
@alexandrosm @alexandrosm on x
With all the goodwill Anthropic has gained from China accusing them of theft and distillation attacks, I'm sure Xi will be signing onto this pause AI 2.0 petition any moment now.
@inductionheads @inductionheads on x
Just a reminder that every day ASI is delayed costs 100k lives So let's not virtue signal too hard here fellas
@pigeon__s @pigeon__s on x
go ahead bro try to convince China to slow development down I'm SURE they'll agree and even if they do I'm SURE that they won't still just develop in secret since it would lowkey really really really stupid for them not to and same with the US too even if everyone SAYS they won't
@jon_stokes Jon Stokes on x
I would say this is the dumbest episode of mass delusion I've ever seen in my life, but I lived through the 2020s. Anyway, I truly did not see the leading lights of the industry joining forces with the anti-datacenter crowd, yet here we are.
@josephjacks_ @josephjacks_ on x
Dumb. Zero Chinese labs will sign this.
@angaisb_ Angel on x
All the cures that could be found by AGI, delayed We don't need to decelerate, we need to accelerate more imo
@adriandittmann Adrian Dittmann on x
[image]
@robertjbye Robert Bye on x
I've signed this
@quxiaoyin Xiaoyin Qu on x
1. It's silly to try to control the pace. China will not follow and Kimi k4 won't slow down 2. …
@basedjensen @basedjensen on x
I have a problem with pacing not least of all is slowing down is going to kill thousands of people from curable deseases. No one in good faith or good consciousness should advocate for slowing down of progress. It's distinctly anti human. Ant and 1000 researchers who signed this …
@davidondrej1 David Ondrej on x
nice try
@jayagup10 Jaya Gupta on x
This is actually really funny. 1.) Anthropic claims profound capability acceleration …
@quxiaoyin Xiaoyin Qu on x
I've become PTSD to the word “AI safety” or “alignment” not because I don't care about safety …
@daniel_mac8 Dan McAteer on x
Official Anthropic account: “Our own research on recursive self-improvement, published last month, points to the need for tools to deliberately pace the frontier of AI development so society can prepare.” Closest thing you'll get to a confirmation that Anthropic (and probably Ope…
@fchollet François Chollet on x
A significant portion of current AI “discourse” is less about technological capabilities and more about frontier lab employees navigating their own self-esteem and sense of identity.
NewsMax.com Solange Reyner on x
OpenAI, Anthropic Endorse AI Safety Letter
@ccatalini Christian Catalini on x
1/ Don't Pace The Frontier. Look Inside The Trojan Horse. Over 1,200 employees of frontier AI companies have signed a statement calling for the U.S. government to work with other countries, but truly with China, to deliberately introduce guardrails into automated AI development. …
@eliebakouch Elie on x
i signed this letter because i think it's important to build ways for labs/gov around the world …
@nickcammarata Nick on x
I used to think slowing down was pointless, like slightly delaying a roller coaster. pausing at gpt2 for a year wouldn't have changed anything. but I've been shocked by how much agents has sped up the best interp/alignment researchers I know. +6mo might decide how this goes
@mackenz_arnold Mackenzie Arnold on x
I think people are too quick to read this letter as exclusively calling for “pauses” to development. …
@chrisgpt Chris on x
🚨Anthropic urges pacing development by signing petition because of RSI …
@boazbaraktcs Boaz Barak on x
Proud to have signed this statement. I don't know if a coordinated slowdown will be the right approach, but we need to prepare in case we'll need to do so.

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