Story perspectives

AI Safety Concerns Grow Over METR Evaluator Funding Source

By Drooid · Sep 16, 2026, 10:09 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay on September 13 calling for a paced slowdown of AI development.
Right-leaning coverage says critics, including President Donald Trump, dismissed the slowdown call as a hoax and self-serving.
OpenAI policy chief Chris Lehane said OpenAI is working with Anthropic and Google DeepMind on safety.
AI czar David Sacks and Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned the METR evaluator is funded by Anthropic backers, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.

History

Historical Context

Elon Musk’s $10 million donation helped the Future of Life Institute launch its 2015 $6.5 million AI-safety grant, which Stuart Russell’s new Center for Human-Compatible AI used to seed early research and the 2017 Asilomar conference. Dario Amodei’s September 13 essay revives that call as OpenAI, DeepMind and policymakers debate safety versus competition.

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Story summary

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay on September 13 calling for a paced slowdown of AI development.
Right-leaning coverage says critics, including President Donald Trump, dismissed the slowdown call as a hoax and self-serving.
OpenAI policy chief Chris Lehane said OpenAI is working with Anthropic and Google DeepMind on safety.
AI czar David Sacks and Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned the METR evaluator is funded by Anthropic backers, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.

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