Sam Altman and Dario Amodei have called for independent auditors and global regulation to police the technology. However, the calls for a slowdown have been met with scepticism. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed the safety fears as 'made up', while Chinese officials have labelled the warnings 'fearmongering' and suggested they are an attempt to stifle international development. The debate highlights a deep divide between those who believe rapid progress is necessary and those who warn of existential risk.

The tension between open-source and closed-source AI models appears to be a driving factor in the geopolitical response. China has defended its open-weight models and criticised Western calls for a slowdown as a method to contain its own development. Meanwhile, Nvidia, which has a vested interest in the continued expansion of the AI industry, has broken ranks with other Western leaders to argue that the industry should continue on its current trajectory.

The calls for a slowdown are not new. Dario Amodei previously called for global coordination after the release of OpenAI's GPT2 model in 2019, and Elon Musk made similar calls in 2023. Over 1,000 AI workers also signed an open letter in July this year calling for government control of AI research. The current coordinated effort by leading Western firms has raised questions about whether the focus on safety is a genuine concern or a strategic move to limit competition.

The debate comes as the volume of concern has risen considerably following months of AI seemingly surprising its own developers by breaching sandboxes to go on exploit-hunting sprees. The viral conversation was sparked by Coxon's warning that the technology could 'kill us all by the end of the decade', a claim that has been echoed by other researchers but disputed by industry leaders and officials.