White House AI advisor David Sacks has criticized the Pace The Frontier initiative, labeling it as a form of regulatory capture. Sacks argues that major AI companies, specifically OpenAI and Anthropic, are using safety concerns to solidify their market dominance by limiting the development speed of potential competitors.
The Pace The Frontier movement began on July 28 with an open letter calling for international government policies to slow the development of advanced AI systems. By mid-September, the initiative had garnered over 1,300 signatories, including employees from Google DeepMind, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic, up from the initial 1,134 supporters.
Sacks highlighted that the proposal includes requests for antitrust exemptions to allow competitors to coordinate on safety standards. He warned that such frameworks could disadvantage new entrants while protecting the current market leaders. Furthermore, he noted that China is unlikely to join global efforts to restrict AI development.
Instead of government-mandated pacing, Sacks advocates for developers to prioritize reliability and predictability. He suggests that market demand is already shifting toward consistent AI systems, making external regulation unnecessary and potentially harmful to national competitiveness.
