'They want to build a moat': Anthropic's scary warnings about rapid AI 'self-improvement' and 'temporarily' pausing development arent convincing the cynics

Date:
Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:21:26 +0000

Description:
Anthropic is calling for the AI industry to slow down and put some safeguards in place, but that might not be possible.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Anthropic suggests a "slowdown or pause" on AI AI could soon start developing itself, the company warns
There have been mostly negative responses online Even the giant companies at the forefront of AI are suggesting it might be time to take a step back and think about where the tech is heading: Claude developer Anthropic has posted
a lengthy new blog post in which it suggests "a meaningful slowdown or pause" while we all take a breath.

Authored by Anthropic executives Marina Favaro and Jack Clark, the post centers on the idea of AI developing itself, known as 'recursive self-improvement' at which point it might get out of our hands very quickly, as AI takes over the business of designing and developing its own models and interfaces. "We are not there yet, and recursive self-improvement is not inevitable," explains the post. "But it could come sooner than most institutions are prepared for." By next year, an AI model like Claude could
be capable of completing tasks that would take a human coder weeks, according to Anthropic's calculations. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

As per Anthropic's internal testing, Claude is managing more code than ever before, and is rapidly getting better at writing code that both works and can be understood by human engineers. In fact, Claude is now catching bugs that the best programmers at Anthropic previously missed.

While humans still do better at seeing the big picture and context outside
the current task, the blog post says, this is something else that AI may soon catch up with though this part is less clear. If and when that does happen, AI could escape our control, and that's where the proposals about a freeze on AI development come in. You may like Anthropic drops shocking warning about near-future AI that can program and improve itself Quote of the day by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: "Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether [we] possess the
maturity to wield it" warnings on the looming threat of beyond-human AI Anthropic blames sci-fi for bad AI behavior A growing anti-AI sentiment Anthropic calls for global freeze in AI development from r/technology "If it were possible to effectively slow the development of this technology to give ourselves more time to deal with its immense implications, we think that
would likely be a good thing," writes the Anthropic team. "But if a slowdown simply lets the least cautious actors catch up technologically, it could
leave everyone less safe."

With that in mind, the blog post floats the idea of a "global coordination mechanism" to slow down or pause frontier AI development which would of course require competitors like OpenAI and Google to promise not to try and jump ahead in secret. During the pause, more of the future potential of AI
and possible safeguards could be worked out. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Anthropic says it will "organize conversations" with governments,
researchers, and AI companies to see if it's going to be possible to put the brakes on development at this point. If we don't do it now, we might lose the opportunity altogether, which is why Anthropic wants to ask these questions now .

Out in the flesh and blood world, a noticeable anti-AI sentiment is growing at least outside of Silicon Valley and coders. Online reactions to
Anthropic's post have accused the company of wanting to protect its own lead in the market and raise hype for its upcoming IPO though many share the same safety concerns raised in the blog post.

"It's regulatory capture," says one commenter , pointing out that this is something AI companies regularly do. "They want to build a moat around their business." Another Reddit post frames the scenario in a more vivid way: "Wolf with a bloody maw and engorged belly says it's time to stop eating meat for a little bit." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/they-want-to-build-a-moat-an thropics-scary-warnings-about-rapid-ai-self-improvement-and-temporarily-pausin g-development-arent-convincing-the-cynics


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