The AI doomsday debate intensifies

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have called for a slowdown in AI.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images, FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.

You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here .

Existential angst What do you do if you feel like you're helping build something that could contribute to the end of humanity? This is the existential question confronting the AI industry, a debate that only intensified after Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic researcher, quit last week with a stark warning .

He said AI giants are "gambling with our lives" and that the people building the technology "earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." The swift reaction to Coxon's warning boiled over on Saturday when the leaders of the biggest AI companies publicly agreed on what should happen next.

In a Saturday essay, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says he's "become convinced" the breakneck pace of advancement must change and proposed a three-step solution to ensure the tech's safety.

Shortly afterward, Elon Musk and Sam Altman publicly aligned with Amodei's plan in a rare sign of support.

"Dario is right," Musk tweeted.

Altman agreed, too, saying the pace of development has been a "primary topic" of discussion at OpenAI in recent weeks.

Altman also said OpenAI might not move forward with an IPO this year.

"Right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public," he said in a Fortune interview.

As fears over AI safety intensify, employees at Anthropic and OpenAI have also been speaking out.

My colleague Sarah Needleman reported on a big question facing many concerned AI employees : Should they quit or stay amid fears of an AI apocalypse? Some AI workers believe they can do more good by staying on the inside.

That means raising concerns, pushing for safeguards, and trying to influence decisions before they are made.