China has officially rejected proposals from U.S. AI executives to decelerate the development of advanced artificial intelligence. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that such fear-mongering and competition only disrupt global AI governance.
Investor Michael Burry and former Meta AI chief Yann LeCun have publicly criticized the calls for a slowdown. Burry suggested that major AI companies are motivated by financial incentives, aiming to protect their market lead against emerging competitors.
LeCun dismissed the warnings as fake, maintaining his long-standing position that current large language models do not pose the catastrophic risks suggested by some researchers. He has consistently challenged the idea that these models are on a path to AGI.
The debate highlights a significant divide in the industry. While Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman advocate for public oversight and potential deceleration, others argue that slowing down would only cede a strategic advantage to global rivals.
Market reactions were immediate, with shares of SoftBank, a major investor in OpenAI, falling by 10% in Japan on Monday. Meanwhile, Chinese officials continue to emphasize the development of AI security systems to maintain a competitive edge in global technology.
