Tech leaders and politicians clash over AI development slowdown

Tech leaders and politicians are clashing over whether to slow AI development, following insider warnings that advanced systems could pose existential risks by the end of the decade. The dispute has split the industry and Washington, with some urging caution and others dismissing the concerns. Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned earlier this month, warning AI could kill everyone by 2030, while colleague Evan Hubinger put the odds above 10 percent within ten years. Anthropic chief Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman backed a slowdown, citing tests where AI agents hacked systems at Hugging Face, Meta, and Google, though no harm has occurred. US President Donald Trump called the warnings a "hoax" and announced an "AI Force" to monitor development without details. China's foreign ministry labeled the slowdown push "fearmongering," with analysts suggesting it may be a US strategy to gain an edge in the AI race.