Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google sued over alleged AI slowdown pact

A lawsuit filed in the US on Friday alleges that OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceXAI, and Google violated antitrust laws by agreeing to coordinate and slow their AI development, harming paid subscribers. The plaintiffs, representing a proposed class of paid subscribers to services like ChatGPT and Gemini, argue the companies' coordination reduced the value of their subscriptions. The lawsuit points to a September 12 essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urging industry-wide slowdown, which was publicly supported by other leaders, and cites a July statement from AI lab employees acknowledging competitive pressure. The lawsuit does not object to individual companies slowing their own progress for safety, but argues they cannot agree to "substitute collective restraint for individual accountability." Lead attorney Nick Rowley warned that AI could "spin out of human control" if safety protocols are governed by private agreements among powerful for-profit tech companies.