AI Giants Sued Over Alleged Deal to Slow Development
A new lawsuit filed Friday in California federal court alleges Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google made an illegal agreement to slow AI development, violating antitrust laws and reducing value for paid subscribers. The complaint centers on Sept. 12, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging industrywide slowdowns for safety, and CEOs Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis publicly agreed. Plaintiffs, representing a class of paid subscribers, argue the rivals' coordinated restraint substitutes collective action for individual accountability, harming consumers. The lawsuit follows a July 2026 statement by AI lab employees calling for government-backed slowdowns. President Donald Trump has rejected regulation, calling it a "conspiracy," while Senator Josh Hawley opposes antitrust exemptions, though the companies have not yet responded to the claims.