AI Giants Sued Over Alleged Antitrust Collusion to Slow Development

Consumers who subscribe to AI services have filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Anthropic PBC, OpenAI OPCO LLC, SpaceXAI, and Google LLC entered an illegal agreement to collectively restrain the pace of artificial-intelligence advancement. The plaintiffs contend the coordination violates Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which bars competitors from conspiring to limit output. The suit seeks class certification, an injunction against the companies, and a declaratory judgment that the alleged conduct breaches federal antitrust law (case No. 3:26-cv-10693).

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceXAI Hit With Antitrust Lawsuit The Hill

The dispute stems from an essay published in September by Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, in which he called for “industry-wide coordination” to “pace the frontier” of AI development. Within hours, SpaceXAI founder Elon Musk endorsed the proposal, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman expressed agreement, and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis described the plan as “the right path forward.” Lawmakers have already flagged the proposal as a potential antitrust issue. Plaintiffs argue that the coordination deprives subscribers of promised product improvements and forces them to pay unchanged prices while competitors race ahead.

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The complaint records Musk’s comment that “Dario is right,” Altman’s concurrence, and Hassabis’s endorsement of the essay’s approach. Plaintiffs’ attorney Nick Rowley argued that safeguards for powerful AI should be established through government action rather than private accords among dominant firms. The defendants have not responded to requests for comment.

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• “We must slow the space in which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” — Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO

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• “Humanity deserves iron clad safeguards when it comes to extinction event threats such as nuclear warfare and now the biggest risk to mankind in history,” — Nick Rowley, attorney for the plaintiffs

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