The AI Race Is Getting Faster. But Are We Moving Too Fast?

The Brief 

Open AI and Anthropic are warning about the risks of moving too quickly with powerful AI, while the Trump administration wants the U.S. to accelerate development and stay ahead of China. Meanwhile, China is calling for global cooperation.

The AI race isn't slowing down. If anything, it's getting faster.

Every major technology company wants to build more capable AI, governments are treating artificial intelligence as a strategic advantage, and investors are pouring billions into the industry.

But as the competition heats up, some of the people building these systems are asking whether the industry is moving faster than it can safely handle.

Open AI and Anthropic sound the alarm

Open AI CEO Sam Altman has been increasingly vocal about the need to think about AI safety as systems become more powerful. His message is not that AI development should stop, but that companies shouldn't allow the race for more capable models to push safety into the background.

Altman has described this idea as staying on “Team Humanity” — essentially putting human interests and safety alongside the race to build better AI.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has raised similar concerns in a recent essay, which also received support from Altman and Elon Musk.

One of the biggest worries is that AI capabilities could eventually advance faster than the systems designed to control and manage them.

There is another concern too: concentration of power.

If increasingly powerful AI ends up being controlled by only a few companies, those companies could gain an enormous amount of influence over technology, business and information.

And then there's the geopolitical side of the story.

Amodei has warned that China taking the lead in AI could pose serious risks for the U.S. and the wider world.

China has a different message

China isn't calling for the AI race to stop either. Instead, it is pushing for greater international cooperation on AI governance.

The Chinese government has warned against what it calls “fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition” around artificial intelligence, arguing that this could make international cooperation more difficult.

In simple terms, China's position is that AI is too important — and potentially too powerful — for countries to handle it entirely on their own.

But that's easier said than done.

The U.S. and China are already competing heavily in AI, chips and advanced computing. Asking the two countries to completely put competition aside and cooperate on AI governance is a much bigger challenge than it sounds.

Trump wants the U.S. to move faster

While Altman and Amodei are highlighting the risks of moving too quickly, the Trump administration is taking a much more aggressive approach.

President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants the United States to remain ahead of China in AI.

Rather than slowing down development, his administration has generally pushed for fewer restrictions and faster technological progress.

Vice President JD Vance has also criticised calls for additional AI regulation, describing some concerns about regulation as a potential “Trojan horse.”

The argument from this side is straightforward: if the U.S. slows down while China continues developing AI rapidly, the U.S. could lose its technological advantage.

And in a technology race where AI could influence everything from business and defence to cybersecurity and scientific research, falling behind could have consequences far beyond the tech industry.

Wall Street is watching too

The debate isn't limited to governments and AI researchers. Investors are paying close attention as well.

SoftBank shares fell by more than 10% amid concerns that a slowdown in AI development could eventually reduce investment and expected growth across the sector.

Investor Michael Burry also pushed back against the idea of slowing AI development, suggesting that warnings around the technology could potentially contribute to hype surrounding future AI IPOs.

It's a reminder that there is a huge amount of money riding on the AI boom.

For investors, slower AI development could mean slower returns. For companies, being late could mean losing market share. And for governments, losing the AI race could become a strategic problem.

So, should AI actually slow down?

This is where things get complicated.

The argument for moving quickly is easy to understand. AI is already changing how people work, search for information, write software, create content and run businesses. The next generation of systems could have an even bigger impact.

But the concerns about safety aren't exactly imaginary either.

The more capable these systems become, the more important it is to understand what they can do, what they can't do and what happens when they behave in unexpected ways.

The problem is that there may not be a perfect speed limit for AI development.

Move too slowly, and another company or another country could get ahead.

Move too quickly, and we could end up trying to solve safety problems after the technology has already become widespread.

And that's probably the biggest challenge facing the AI industry right now.

The question isn't really AI or safety.

It's whether we can build increasingly powerful AI without leaving safety several steps behind.

The AI race is already underway. The bigger question is whether everyone involved can make sure that winning the race doesn't become more important than knowing where the race is actually taking us.