Altman spells out what 'slowing down' means: 'pacing' is not 'stopping' — progress 'should be slower than it otherwise could be'

“Sam Altman says slowing down AI doesn't mean stopping it — progress 'should be slower than it otherwise could be'.”

Usable claims

• Altman's two X posts, as carried by CNBC and The Verge (the posts themselves were not opened). Saturday's brief post, per CNBC: he 'agreed with Amodei that AI companies should "pace the frontier"' and added, 'committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same.' The Monday post, which CNBC dates 'just after midnight on Monday': 'We welcome a federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements for frontier AI,' — 'no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness' — 'Consistent rules to manage frontier risk so that we can maximize the benefits are a good idea (and we are excited by ideas like independent auditors),' — 'When we talk about 'pacing,' we do not mean 'stopping.' Progress has been rapid and will continue to be. But it should be slower than it otherwise could be,' (the three-sentence span is contiguous in The Verge's rendering; CNBC carries the first two) — 'Pacing will be well worth this cost; no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring,' — and, per The Verge's rendering: 'Where we will need the help of our government is for international coordination. But first we should do what we can ourselves,' The risk picture, per CNBC: 'Altman warned of two ways AI progress could go "very badly," including losing "control of the future to AI" and too much power concentrating around a single person or company.' Context, all per CNBC: 'both Altman and Musk on Saturday backing an essay from Amodei that urged AI companies to slow how quickly they improve their most advanced models'; 'U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the CEOs' warning on Sunday, saying a slowdown was not needed and would jeopardize America's lead in AI over China'; 'AI stocks were down Monday as investors digested the comments'; 'This all comes as Anthropic and OpenAI gear up for what's expected to be historic initial public offerings.' The Verge's reporter framing, hedged as printed: 'That statement seems targeted at Trump and Co who fear letting China catch up.'