AI leaders diverge on safety, regulation and competition as the U.S.-China race keeps pressure on the industry to move fast.

  • OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella called for measured progress with stronger safety guardrails.
  • Investor Michael Burry and former AI czar David Sacks question whether safety concerns could benefit AI incumbents.
  • Wall Street expects the AI infrastructure buildout to remain largely intact.

The AI industry is split over Anthropic’s call to slow the pace of frontier-model development, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella backing more deliberate progress, while “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry and others question the push's motives and practicality. 

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has rejected the idea of significantly slowing development, warning that the U.S. cannot afford to surrender its lead over China.

Anthropic’s Call To ‘Pace The Frontier’

The debate intensified over the weekend after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to “pace the frontier” of AI development, arguing that model capabilities are advancing faster than the safety mechanisms needed to control them. 

Amodei’s warning came amid growing concerns that increasingly capable AI systems could be misused or eventually slip beyond human control, reigniting a long-running debate after one of the company’s researchers departed while warning of a potential AI doomsday scenario.

Amodei’s comments drew support from Altman, who said AI development must follow a “narrow middle path” between losing control to AI and allowing too much power to accumulate in the hands of a single company, person or country. He said OpenAI is already conducting safety evaluations before major reinforcement-learning runs.

“When we talk about ‘pacing’, we do not mean ‘stopping’,” Altman said in a long post on X, adding that AI progress “has been rapid and will continue to be.” But he argued that development should be slower than it otherwise could be because safety cases, monitoring and other safeguards carry high costs.

Nadella Backs Deliberate AI Progress

Nadella similarly welcomed Anthropic’s approach, saying the pursuit of superintelligence must remain grounded in the principle that AI should help humanity and remain under human control. He called for “deliberate pacing” to get alignment right, while also arguing that AI benefits should be distributed more broadly.

In his X post, Nadella also argued that a handful of companies should not control the AI ecosystem, calling for broad access to both closed- and open-source models and greater enterprise control over their own AI systems and knowledge.

Burry Questions AI Safety Motives

But Burry, the investor best known for predicting the 2008 housing crash, dismissed the calls as potentially self-serving. He argued that OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major AI companies have incentives to slow competitors as competition intensifies, and he questioned whether the technology currently being developed even qualifies as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

“Let’s all take a moment to understand how self-serving it is,” Burry said in an X post, arguing that “competition is coming up fast” and that slowing development benefits incumbents. He also suggested that claims about AI becoming dangerous could provide useful “hype & puffery” as companies prepare for eventual public offerings.

Former Trump Adviser To AI Labs: ‘You Guys Are The Frontier’

David Sacks, who served as U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House AI and Crypto Czar from January 2025 through March 2026, took a more nuanced position. He said Anthropic and OpenAI should slow their own development if their unreleased models are genuinely dangerous, but argued they should not use the move to seek special regulatory treatment.

“You guys are the frontier,” Sacks said, referring to Anthropic and OpenAI. “The easiest way not to build superintelligence is for you to agree not to build it.”

Sacks also accused the companies of potentially using AI safety concerns to pursue regulatory capture, warning that demanding preferred regulations in exchange for slowing development could amount to “blackmail of the public and the political system.”

Trump Warns Against Losing AI Race To China

Trump was considerably more skeptical. Speaking to reporters in Ireland on Sunday, the U.S. president said he was concerned that excessive restrictions could allow China to overtake the U.S. in AI. While acknowledging that some guardrails may be necessary, Trump said critics were raising scenarios that “won’t happen.”

“We’re leading China in AI,” Trump said, according to a report in Al Jazeera. “Frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins.”

Wall Street Sees Little Impact On AI Buildout

The investment community largely played down the immediate implications for the AI buildout. Noted tech analyst Dan Ives said the safety debate was unlikely to change the “trillions of dollars” of AI-related capital expenditure expected in coming years, while Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster said the competitive race remains too intense for the latest calls to materially alter model development.

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla acknowledged AI’s potential for both beneficial and harmful uses, while investor Cathie Wood echoed Sacks’ skepticism about the broader safety narrative. 

Investor Gavin Baker, meanwhile, said third-party evaluators could become important in limiting future liability for AI companies, even if the immediate investment implications remain limited.

The development and industry reactions assume greater significance as Anthropic and OpenAI race to go public. Anthropic is expected to launch its offering later this month or in October, while OpenAI has pushed its IPO to next year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<