Anthropic, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, has called for a slowdown in the development of advanced AI systems, warning that humanity may be approaching a point where the technology becomes difficult to control.
The company behind the Claude chatbot said it would support a temporary pause in developing more powerful AI models if other leading developers agreed to do the same.
Anthropic argued that a slowdown could provide governments, researchers, and society with more time to understand and manage the risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems.
The warning comes as Anthropic continues to position itself as one of the industry’s strongest advocates for AI safety. The company has reportedly withheld public access to its most advanced AI system, known as Mythos, because of concerns that it could be misused for large-scale cyberattacks and other harmful activities.
Researchers warn of self-improving AI
In an essay published Thursday, Marina Favaro, head of Anthropic’s research division, and company president Jack Clark said AI may be approaching a critical milestone known as “recursive self-improvement.”
The concept refers to AI systems helping design and improve future generations of AI with decreasing human involvement. Researchers said such a development could rapidly accelerate technological progress but also introduce new challenges for oversight and control.
🚨 LATEST: Claude maker Anthropic is calling for a global pause in AI development, warning that models are approaching the ability to self-improve without human intervention. pic.twitter.com/7WM9jmDZjt
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Favaro and Clark pointed to growing evidence that AI is already contributing to its own development. According to the company, employees now produce roughly eight times more code than they did between 2021 and 2025, largely because of AI-assisted software development. The researchers also said AI systems are becoming better at generating ideas, planning research, and supporting scientific work.
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei has previously warned about the potential risks of advanced AI, estimating there is a 25% chance that the technology could lead to severe negative outcomes if it is not developed responsibly.
A global pause would be difficult
Despite advocating caution, Anthropic acknowledged that coordinating a worldwide slowdown would be extremely challenging.
The company said any meaningful pause would require cooperation among leading AI laboratories across multiple countries. It also noted that verifying compliance would be difficult because AI training runs can be conducted privately and are far less visible than traditional military infrastructure.
Anthropic compared the competition to develop advanced AI to an arms race, arguing that companies may feel pressure to move faster to avoid falling behind rivals.
Critics question the warnings
Not all experts agree with Anthropic’s assessment. Some researchers and industry observers argue that AI companies may be overstating the capabilities of current systems or emphasizing risks to encourage regulations that could disadvantage competitors.
The debate comes amid growing uncertainty in the AI sector. Shares of semiconductor company Broadcom recently fell sharply after disappointing investors with its sales outlook, triggering a broader decline among AI-related chipmakers and renewing concerns that enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence may have outpaced market realities.
As AI capabilities continue to advance, questions about safety, governance, and oversight are expected to remain central to the global conversation surrounding the technology.
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