{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-12-dario-amodei-pace-the-frontier/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-12-dario-amodei-pace-the-frontier/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-09-12-dario-amodei-pace-the-frontier","date":"2026-09-12","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Dario Amodei publishes \"We Must Pace the Frontier\", calling for a deliberate slowdown","deck":null,"takeaway":"On September 12, 2026 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published 'We Must Pace the Frontier'.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"Dario Amodei: We Must Pace the Frontier","url":"https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"darioamodei.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Dario Amodei on X announcing the essay","url":"https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2098773920774074715","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"x.com"},{"n":3,"title":"NBC News: Stocks slip, but traders largely shake off warnings that AI industry should slow down (Sept 14)","url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/stocks-tumble-ai-leaders-warning-slowdown-ipos-amodei-altman-rcna597643","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"nbcnews.com"},{"n":4,"title":"CNN: AI stocks slide after top industry CEOs call for slowdown (Sept 14)","url":"https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/14/business/ai-stocks-slide-slowdown-development-amodei-altman-intl","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"edition.cnn.com"},{"n":5,"title":"Washington Post: He called for an AI slowdown, then told investors he'd race ahead (Oct 29; paywalled, not read)","url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/29/anthropic-other-ai-firms-agreed-slow-down-ai-it-didnt-happen/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"washingtonpost.com"},{"n":6,"title":"Zvi Mowshowitz: We Must Pace The Frontier","url":"https://thezvi.substack.com/p/we-must-pace-the-frontier","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"thezvi.substack.com"},{"n":7,"title":"MRKT3.0: Who is for it and who is against it","url":"https://mrkt30.com/we-must-pace-the-frontier/","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"mrkt30.com"},{"n":8,"title":"Elon Musk on X: \"Dario is right\"","url":"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2098789109980332057","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"x.com"},{"n":9,"title":"Sam Altman on X: \"I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier\"","url":"https://x.com/sama/status/2098811563415150910","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"x.com"},{"n":10,"title":"Demis Hassabis on X: the essay points towards the right path forward","url":"https://x.com/demishassabis/status/2098909516582490602","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"x.com"}],"official":2,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-29","orgs":["Anthropic"],"title":"Dario Amodei publishes \"We Must Pace the Frontier\", calling for a deliberate slowdown","summary":"On September 12, 2026 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published 'We Must Pace the Frontier'. The essay argues that AI capability, especially through recursive self-improvement, is outpacing alignment and security, and lays out a three-part plan to slow the frontier. Anthropic unilaterally committed to the first step: giving embedded third-party evaluators permanent, employee-level access.","key_facts":["Published Sept 12, 2026 on darioamodei.com","Step 1 (unilateral): embedded third-party evaluators with ongoing, employee-like access","Step 2: common safety standards and limits among frontier companies in democracies, with government support","Step 3: verifiable international agreements, from narrow prohibitions up to 'speed limits' on recursive self-improvement; full pause called unrealistic","Proposes capability-based checkpoints: if capability X, then certification of alignment properties Y and Z","Market reaction on Monday Sept 14 (NBC News, CNN): Philadelphia Semiconductor Index -5.8%, Nvidia -3.4%, ASML -7.2%, Arm -9.7%, SK Hynix -7.3%, SoftBank -10.7% in Tokyo; S&P 500 -0.48%, Nasdaq -0.56%. Trump called AI-risk fears a 'HOAX' the same day","Follow-ups: von der Leyen endorsed pacing in her Sept 16 State of the Union; subscribers filed an antitrust class action over the endorsements on Sept 18","Coverage reports ~36M views on X in a day, and OpenAI following the evaluator commitment (unverified secondary claim)","Oct 29 (Washington Post, paywalled; headline and URL only, article not read): 'He called for an AI slowdown, then told investors he'd race ahead'; the URL slug reads 'anthropic-other-ai-firms-agreed-slow-down-ai-it-didnt-happen'; content beyond the headline unknown to us"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["policy","governance","slowdown","recursive-self-improvement","evaluations"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nThe essay ties pacing to defensive measures against authoritarian AI, including chip export restrictions, anti-distillation and stronger security. Anthropic's first concrete follow-up was the Sept 18 Accenture/Faculty embedded-evaluation partnership. Ten days later Anthropic released Opus 5.5, which some press read as in tension with the call to slow down.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt is the first time the CEO of a leading frontier lab has publicly called for slowing the frontier and paired the call with a unilateral commitment. It shapes how Anthropic's later releases are judged.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-09-22-claude-opus-5-5","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-22-claude-opus-5-5/","date":"2026-09-22","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Anthropic releases Claude Opus 5.5","deck":"Fable-5.1-level performance at $4/$20, first model of the Claude 5.5 family","takeaway":"Opus 5.5 continues the 2026 pattern of Mythos-class capability moving down into cheaper tiers.","category":"model-release","category_label":"Model releases","importance":5,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":36,"official":16,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-18","orgs":["Anthropic"]},{"id":"2026-09-19-trump-ai-force-czar","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-19-trump-ai-force-czar/","date":"2026-09-19","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Trump says he will form an 'AI Force' and name an AI czar, while calling AI-safety fears a 'hoax'","deck":null,"takeaway":"It set the administration's line for the month: institutions and personnel, no new binding safety law.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":13,"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-07","orgs":["White House"]},{"id":"2026-09-18-anthropic-accenture-embedded-evaluation","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-18-anthropic-accenture-embedded-evaluation/","date":"2026-09-18","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Anthropic and Accenture commit $1B+ to embedded third-party evaluation","deck":null,"takeaway":"It is an unusually deep form of external oversight of a frontier lab's training process.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":5,"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-13","orgs":["Anthropic"]},{"id":"2026-09-18-antitrust-class-action-ai-pacing","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-18-antitrust-class-action-ai-pacing/","date":"2026-09-18","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Subscribers sue Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google, calling the 'pace the frontier' agreement an illegal antitrust conspiracy","deck":null,"takeaway":"It tests the legal obstacle that labs have long cited against coordinated slowdowns: that competitors agreeing to limit their products may be illegal without a government mandate or antitrust exemption.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":4,"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-30","updated":"2026-09-30","orgs":["Anthropic","OpenAI","SpaceXAI","Google"]},{"id":"2026-09-16-von-der-leyen-sotu-pace-frontier-ai","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-16-von-der-leyen-sotu-pace-frontier-ai/","date":"2026-09-16","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Von der Leyen's State of the Union backs 'pacing the frontier' of AI and offers EU support to the labs","deck":null,"takeaway":"It put the EU executive among the first governments to publicly back an industry-led frontier slowdown, in contrast to the US administration, which called AI-risk fears a \"hoax\" the same week.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":4,"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-30","updated":"2026-09-30","orgs":["European Commission"]},{"id":"2026-09-16-hinton-congressional-briefing-maybe-a-year","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-16-hinton-congressional-briefing-maybe-a-year/","date":"2026-09-16","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Hinton tells lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Congress has 'maybe a year' to regulate AI","deck":null,"takeaway":"It put a concrete, short timeline in front of US lawmakers from both parties and linked it to recent, specific incidents rather than hypothetical risks.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":3,"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-30","updated":"2026-09-30","orgs":["US Congress"]},{"id":"2026-09-08-jacob-coxon-resigns-anthropic","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-08-jacob-coxon-resigns-anthropic/","date":"2026-09-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigns, warning labs are \"gambling with our lives\"","deck":null,"takeaway":"On Sept 8, 2026 pretraining researcher Jacob Coxon (OpenAI, then Anthropic) quit Anthropic in an X thread saying both labs are \"racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives\".","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":22,"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-26","orgs":["Anthropic","OpenAI"]},{"id":"2026-09-06-pachocki-an-alien-mind","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-06-pachocki-an-alien-mind/","date":"2026-09-06","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki publishes \"An Alien Mind\"","deck":"No lab has solved alignment well enough to keep scaling at maximum speed for much longer","takeaway":"On Sept 6, 2026, three days after the GPT-6 Astra launch, OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki published the essay \"An Alien Mind\" on openai.com.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":5,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":6,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-04","orgs":["OpenAI"]}],"people":[{"id":"dario-amodei","name":"Dario Amodei","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/dario-amodei/"},{"id":"demis-hassabis","name":"Demis Hassabis","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/demis-hassabis/"},{"id":"elon-musk","name":"Elon Musk","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/elon-musk/"},{"id":"geoffrey-hinton","name":"Geoffrey Hinton","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/geoffrey-hinton/"},{"id":"sam-altman","name":"Sam Altman","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/sam-altman/"},{"id":"donald-trump","name":"Donald Trump","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/donald-trump/"},{"id":"jacob-coxon","name":"Jacob Coxon","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/jacob-coxon/"},{"id":"ursula-von-der-leyen","name":"Ursula von der Leyen","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/ursula-von-der-leyen/"},{"id":"zvi-mowshowitz","name":"Zvi Mowshowitz","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/zvi-mowshowitz/"}],"posts":[{"id":"2026-09-12-altman-agrees-pace-the-frontier","title":"Altman: \"I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier\"","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-12-altman-agrees-pace-the-frontier/"},{"id":"2026-09-12-darioamodei-pace-the-frontier-tweet","title":"Dario Amodei announces essay \"We Must Pace the Frontier\"","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-12-darioamodei-pace-the-frontier-tweet/"},{"id":"2026-09-12-darioamodei-we-must-pace-the-frontier","title":"We Must Pace the Frontier","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-12-darioamodei-we-must-pace-the-frontier/"},{"id":"2026-09-08-coxon-resigns-anthropic","title":"\"I resigned from Anthropic today\": labs are \"gambling with our lives\"","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-08-coxon-resigns-anthropic/"},{"id":"2026-07-14-demishassabis-framework-for-frontier-ai","title":"A Framework for Frontier AI and the Dawning of a New Age","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-07-14-demishassabis-framework-for-frontier-ai/"},{"id":"2026-09-22-claudeai-introducing-opus-5-5","title":"Introducing Claude Opus 5.5","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-22-claudeai-introducing-opus-5-5/"},{"id":"2026-09-12-demishassabis-dario-essay-right-path","title":"Hassabis: Dario's essay points towards the right path forward","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-12-demishassabis-dario-essay-right-path/"},{"id":"2026-09-12-musk-dario-is-right","title":"\"Dario is right\"","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-12-musk-dario-is-right/"},{"id":"2026-09-09-hubinger-agrees-10-percent","title":"\"Jacob is correct\": Anthropic alignment lead puts AI extinction risk above 10% this decade","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-09-hubinger-agrees-10-percent/"},{"id":"2026-06-10-darioamodei-policy-on-the-ai-exponential","title":"Policy on the AI Exponential","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-06-10-darioamodei-policy-on-the-ai-exponential/"},{"id":"2026-09-22-sleepinyourhat-opus-5-5-safer","title":"Sam Bowman: releasing Opus 5.5 more likely than not reduces misalignment risk","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-22-sleepinyourhat-opus-5-5-safer/"},{"id":"2026-09-16-miri-iabied-one-year-closer","title":"If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: One Year Closer","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-16-miri-iabied-one-year-closer/"},{"id":"2026-09-14-zvi-we-must-pace-the-frontier","title":"We Must Pace The Frontier","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-14-zvi-we-must-pace-the-frontier/"},{"id":"2026-08-15-darioamodei-reply-gavin-baker","title":"Dario Amodei replies to Gavin Baker on regulation, open weights and AI messaging","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-08-15-darioamodei-reply-gavin-baker/"}],"videos":[{"id":"cnn-kokotajlo-trump-theyre-lying-to-you","title":"AI researcher tells Trump 'they're lying to you\" after he calls AI fears a 'hoax'","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cnn-kokotajlo-trump-theyre-lying-to-you/"},{"id":"cnn-amodei-agent-swarms-threaten-humanity","title":"Anthropic CEO tells CNN how AI 'agent swarms' could threaten humanity","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cnn-amodei-agent-swarms-threaten-humanity/"},{"id":"all-in-jensen-huang-doomer-hoax-trump","title":"Jensen Huang: The Doomer Hoax, Superintelligence is Here, and The Future of AI (ft. President Trump)","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/all-in-jensen-huang-doomer-hoax-trump/"},{"id":"more-perfect-union-anthropic-slow-ai-race-2-trillion-ipo","title":"Anthropic Wanted To Slow The AI Space Race. Then It Filed for a $2 Trillion IPO.","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/more-perfect-union-anthropic-slow-ai-race-2-trillion-ipo/"},{"id":"bbc-news-jack-clark-world-needs-to-slow-ai-down","title":"'The world needs to slow AI down' Anthropic co-founder tells BBC","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/bbc-news-jack-clark-world-needs-to-slow-ai-down/"},{"id":"cbs-sunday-morning-amodei-extended-interview","title":"Extended interview: Dario Amodei","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cbs-sunday-morning-amodei-extended-interview/"},{"id":"ezra-klein-jensen-huang-ai-alarmism","title":"Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too Far","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/ezra-klein-jensen-huang-ai-alarmism/"},{"id":"fallon-trump-dismisses-ai-concerns","title":"Trump Dismisses AI Concerns as He Mocks Top AI Leaders' Warnings | The Tonight Show","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/fallon-trump-dismisses-ai-concerns/"},{"id":"all-in-nadella-ai-doomer-slowdown","title":"Satya Nadella on the AI Doomer Slowdown, Microsoft's Master Plan & Who Wins AI","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/all-in-nadella-ai-doomer-slowdown/"},{"id":"bbc-ai-decoded-too-late-take-back-control","title":"Is it too late for humanity to take back control of AI? | BBC News","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/bbc-ai-decoded-too-late-take-back-control/"},{"id":"cbs-sunday-morning-pogue-will-ai-really-kill-us-all","title":"AI risks: Will artificial intelligence really kill us all?","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cbs-sunday-morning-pogue-will-ai-really-kill-us-all/"},{"id":"ai-explained-what-researchers-saw-pace-ai","title":"What AI Researchers Saw, Before Their Demand to ‘Pace’ AI","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/ai-explained-what-researchers-saw-pace-ai/"},{"id":"cnn-anderson-cooper-amodei-scared-for-kids","title":"Anderson tells Anthropic CEO why AI has him scared for his kids’ futures","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cnn-anderson-cooper-amodei-scared-for-kids/"},{"id":"cnn-anderson-cooper-amodei-rogue-agents-internet","title":"Exclusive: Anderson Cooper asks Anthropic CEO about rogue AI agents taking over internet","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cnn-anderson-cooper-amodei-rogue-agents-internet/"},{"id":"channel-4-news-musk-altman-back-amodei-ai-slowdown","title":"Musk and Altman back Anthropic boss’ call for AI ‘slowdown’","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/channel-4-news-musk-altman-back-amodei-ai-slowdown/"},{"id":"cbs-sunday-morning-amodei-industry-lied","title":"Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: \"For too long the industry lied\" about AI risks","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cbs-sunday-morning-amodei-industry-lied/"},{"id":"cnbc-stuart-russell-ai-intrinsically-unsafe","title":"UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell on quest for safe AI: The technology right now is intrinsically unsafe","url":"https://postcutoff.com/v/cnbc-stuart-russell-ai-intrinsically-unsafe/"}],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-29","type":"edit","text":"Added the Washington Post's Oct 29 headline on pacing vs the IPO (not read; paywall) (news agent)"},{"date":"2026-10-19","type":"edit","text":"Added video(s) cbs-sunday-morning-pogue-will-ai-really-kill-us-all"},{"date":"2026-10-18","type":"edit","text":"Added video channel-4-news-musk-altman-back-amodei-ai-slowdown"},{"date":"2026-10-07","type":"edit","text":"Linked the videos [“Anthropic CEO tells CNN how AI 'agent swarms' could threaten humanity”](https://postcutoff.com/v/cnn-amodei-agent-swarms-threaten-humanity/), [“Extended interview: Dario Amodei”](https://postcutoff.com/v/cbs-sunday-morning-amodei-extended-interview/), [“Jensen Huang: The Doomer Hoax, Superintelligence is Here, and The Future of AI (ft. President Trump)”](https://postcutoff.com/v/all-in-jensen-huang-doomer-hoax-trump/), [“Jensen Huang Thinks A.I. Alarmism Has Gone Too Far”](https://postcutoff.com/v/ezra-klein-jensen-huang-ai-alarmism/), [“'The world needs to slow AI down' Anthropic co-founder tells BBC”](https://postcutoff.com/v/bbc-news-jack-clark-world-needs-to-slow-ai-down/)"},{"date":"2026-09-30","type":"edit","text":"Added the Sept 14 market reaction (NBC, CNN) and links to the von der Leyen, Hinton and antitrust follow-up entries"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"edit","text":"Added post link(s) (Musk \"Dario is right\", Altman agreement tweet); related Coxon resignation entry"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"edit","text":"Added post link(s) (1) from Anthropic posts cluster"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"edit","text":"Added post link(s) (1) from Google/DeepMind + math posts pass"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-10-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-29"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":135,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":74,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":165,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":104,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":"https://postcutoff.com/s/dario-amodei-we-must"}