Should governments and major AI developers deliberately pause or significantly slow frontier AI capability development in the near term?

“I do think we should be skeptical of those arguments, but at the same time, yeah, I do think that this is an additional reason why if we're going to pause, we should, you know, do a deal with China, make sure they're pausing as well.”

“I think that we should freeze frontier development right now, and we should negotiate a bilateral agreement with China to make that binding, and we should establish verification, both on a technical level, and then you could use things like third-party auditors and compute registration.”

“you can't just like unilaterally pause AI development domestically. You must reach across, across the, the Pacific and make sure China stops. you also like really need to be able to ensure that China holds to their end of the bargain.”

“There are not, we don't think, the options on the table there need to be for, in particular, the US to impose consequence on China for reneging on these sorts of agreements. And that's probably the top Priority thing to fix if, if anything was.”

“for company coups, I think there's a very strong case that slowing down would help. it would allow the rest of the world to understand what these companies are building. It would allow multiple companies to kind of, and multiple countries to catch up to the frontier. and so I think the case there is very robust.”

“I think now, it's just like very obvious to everyone the models are getting super scary and capable. Like, if there was ever a time to come out and say, like, I really think we've got to stop this, like, this would be the time.”

“if Dario or any of his counterparts believe that an AI pause may soon be necessary, they shouldn't wait for the Overton window to shift before consistently and repeatedly saying so.”

“the theory of change that I was working under is like, yeah, sure, you want to create evidence and so, but the AI is also here and it's actually our job as much as anybody is here in the US to get ready to build the pause button. So the budget should also be laying the groundwork of like, okay,”

“if in a year everything's chill and nothing's happened and someone asked me, would I still endorse saying we should pause now, I think I would say that I endorse it. Like, I think like just the states seem high enough now that like we clearly just should chill out for a bit.”

“I would like a, government mandated slowdown.”

“Tell your friends about the urgency of Pause AI because as fun as it is, it's also, ridiculously reckless to just continue in this direction.”

“the collective turbulence of the impact of AI on all of these, you know, fronts, family, jobs, and so on, It's like we have got enough to work, not to mention geopolitics and the just inherent destabilization of the shifts in power AI is going to bring”

“and I guess, like, in practice, it seems like, to my knowledge, we're nowhere close currently to, like, being confident that, our AIs are aligned. and so I, I think near term, at least, the thing to do is to work on not building it. Which is to say, like, computer, stopping it, pausing it, slowing it, ideally stopping it,”

“It would be madness to push ahead on the assumption that the defensive research will arrive in time when the trend thus far has been for defenses to fall further and further behind.”

“the retort to that is like, well, like why is it assumed that we want to go any further? Like maybe we in fact don't want to go any further and we should like bring the whole thing to a grinding halt and then kind of reassess whether this like approach of doing, you know, aligning our AIs using weaker”

“I suggest we stop them all. I think that this, that this whole area of research is just crazy dangerous. Like it is not worth the risk to civilization. I think it would be fine to like back up to the sort of AIs that are public today, which are not the ones that are swarming, and be like, okay,”

“I suggest we stop them all. It is not worth the risk to civilization.”

“I think we're on the same page, you know, we got to organize to slow down AI and prevent increases in frontier capabilities right now, correct?”

“this is for real, and, I don't think I'm a super alarmist, and I'm telling you we should be alarmed.”

“a pause would be great, but I actually think the framing is not quite right. Like, we should freeze development where it is, and then evaluate which direction we want it to go”

“Pause is a simple policy and it's really what should precede any next step. You don't make the problem worse before you figure out your plan and do it.”

“Well, today we pause AI.”

“if we don't stop with this AI stuff, I think we'd be very lucky to have 10 years.”

“Then I'm more optimistic. I'm like, yes, then we will take, you know, GPT-6, GPT-7, whatever the most advanced AI models we have, and we will apply them to the task of helping us figure out how these neural networks work.”

“They, nothing would change other than we're losing time, foreign governments are getting better, and you're still not doing anything. You're, you're moving at a pace that is so behind the rate of AI. So all that would happen if we quote unquote slowed down is we would fritter away the time.”

“if you think about how fast this happened, this is like three weeks. And you have this solution where the alternative was hit the pause on trillions of dollars of GDP so that we could sort this out in a multinational body. The alternative was crazy.”

“the market is now like, oh my God, I'm getting scared. I'm really jittery about this. They're not going to stop, though. So it'll probably get worse before it gets better in the sense of, like, they are not slowing down, and they're 100% right, and this is the moment in all of human history.”

“I don't trust any group of technocrats to make that discussion. And so, and so live with our, live with our current state of, of disease, live with our current footprint on the planet, live with our current levels of wealth and poverty, live with our current improvement trajectories. because we're so worried about AI killing us.”

“today we don't pause AI, today we focus on security.”

“I do believe that the correct answer is like right now, just like, yeah, let's go, right? And with some protections in place”

“The idea that you can slow or stop AI development, and fortunately think at this moment, it's too far too late. Like, the AI is out there.”

“There are not, we don't think, the options on the table there need to be for, in particular, the US to impose consequence on China for reneging on these sorts of agreements. And that's probably the top Priority thing to fix if, if anything was.”

“I do think we should be skeptical of those arguments, but at the same time, yeah, I do think that this is an additional reason why if we're going to pause, we should, you know, do a deal with China, make sure they're pausing as well.”

“I think that we should freeze frontier development right now, and we should negotiate a bilateral agreement with China to make that binding, and we should establish verification, both on a technical level, and then you could use things like third-party auditors and compute registration.”

“the retort to that is like, well, like why is it assumed that we want to go any further? Like maybe we in fact don't want to go any further and we should like bring the whole thing to a grinding halt and then kind of reassess whether this like approach of doing, you know, aligning our AIs using weaker”

“and I guess, like, in practice, it seems like, to my knowledge, we're nowhere close currently to, like, being confident that, our AIs are aligned. and so I, I think near term, at least, the thing to do is to work on not building it. Which is to say, like, computer, stopping it, pausing it, slowing it, ideally stopping it,”

“you can't just like unilaterally pause AI development domestically. You must reach across, across the, the Pacific and make sure China stops. you also like really need to be able to ensure that China holds to their end of the bargain.”

“the theory of change that I was working under is like, yeah, sure, you want to create evidence and so, but the AI is also here and it's actually our job as much as anybody is here in the US to get ready to build the pause button. So the budget should also be laying the groundwork of like, okay,”

“Tell your friends about the urgency of Pause AI because as fun as it is, it's also, ridiculously reckless to just continue in this direction.”

“the collective turbulence of the impact of AI on all of these, you know, fronts, family, jobs, and so on, It's like we have got enough to work, not to mention geopolitics and the just inherent destabilization of the shifts in power AI is going to bring”

“if in a year everything's chill and nothing's happened and someone asked me, would I still endorse saying we should pause now, I think I would say that I endorse it. Like, I think like just the states seem high enough now that like we clearly just should chill out for a bit.”

“I think we're on the same page, you know, we got to organize to slow down AI and prevent increases in frontier capabilities right now, correct?”

“this is for real, and, I don't think I'm a super alarmist, and I'm telling you we should be alarmed.”

“if Dario or any of his counterparts believe that an AI pause may soon be necessary, they shouldn't wait for the Overton window to shift before consistently and repeatedly saying so.”

“a pause would be great, but I actually think the framing is not quite right. Like, we should freeze development where it is, and then evaluate which direction we want it to go”

“Then I'm more optimistic. I'm like, yes, then we will take, you know, GPT-6, GPT-7, whatever the most advanced AI models we have, and we will apply them to the task of helping us figure out how these neural networks work.”

“It would be madness to push ahead on the assumption that the defensive research will arrive in time when the trend thus far has been for defenses to fall further and further behind.”

“I think now, it's just like very obvious to everyone the models are getting super scary and capable. Like, if there was ever a time to come out and say, like, I really think we've got to stop this, like, this would be the time.”

“Pause is a simple policy and it's really what should precede any next step. You don't make the problem worse before you figure out your plan and do it.”

“I suggest we stop them all. It is not worth the risk to civilization.”

“if we don't stop with this AI stuff, I think we'd be very lucky to have 10 years.”

“the market is now like, oh my God, I'm getting scared. I'm really jittery about this. They're not going to stop, though. So it'll probably get worse before it gets better in the sense of, like, they are not slowing down, and they're 100% right, and this is the moment in all of human history.”

“I do believe that the correct answer is like right now, just like, yeah, let's go, right? And with some protections in place”

“if you think about how fast this happened, this is like three weeks. And you have this solution where the alternative was hit the pause on trillions of dollars of GDP so that we could sort this out in a multinational body. The alternative was crazy.”

“I don't trust any group of technocrats to make that discussion. And so, and so live with our, live with our current state of, of disease, live with our current footprint on the planet, live with our current levels of wealth and poverty, live with our current improvement trajectories. because we're so worried about AI killing us.”