Critics question AI slowdown proposal's antitrust exemption

Dario Amodei's September 12 proposal to align AI development pace with safety safeguards drew criticism on September 15 for potentially requiring government mediation or an antitrust exemption to enable lab coordination. Critics including FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg argued companies don't need special treatment for safety work. The plan involves external evaluators, common standards, and international cooperation, though it doesn't propose halting AI development entirely. A September 19 consumer lawsuit against Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google alleges coordinated slowdowns reduced subscription value. Jonathan Kanter says safety standards and threat information sharing can proceed under existing antitrust law, while agreements limiting competition raise separate concerns.