# Washington tells AI's bosses to calm down

> The people building frontier AI asked for a slowdown. The White House and the House Speaker said no.
- Title: Washington tells AI's bosses to calm down · The Verge
- Summary: The people building frontier AI asked for a slowdown. The White House and the House Speaker said no. The industry's safety debate now runs into a political…
- Keywords: ai policy, anthropic, openai, regulation, china, technology, culture, Washington, tells, AI's, bosses, calm
- Source: The Verge — https://theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994441/trump-mike-johnson-ai-industry-overreacting
- Author: Terrence O'Brien
- Published: 2026-09-13T19:41:48+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ai policy, anthropic, openai, regulation, china, technology, culture
## Amodei calls for a pause
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a long open letter arguing the industry should "pace the frontier" and slow AI development down on purpose.

> pace the frontier
## His rivals agreed
Sam Altman and Elon Musk both backed the idea publicly on X. Demis Hassabis of Alphabet offered tentative support, making it a rare moment of alignment among competitors.
## Trump waves it off
The president framed AI as a contest the US is currently winning, and said nothing should jeopardize that lead. Speed is the policy.

> Look, we're leading China in AI ... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins.
## Johnson sees a security risk
On CNN, House Speaker Mike Johnson told Jake Tapper that rushing restrictions onto AI would itself be a national security threat. He urged people not to panic.

> If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try and regulate AI, we will lose the race to China.
## China ends the argument
Both Republicans reach for the same trump card: any slowdown hands the lead to Beijing. That framing leaves no room for a negotiated pause.
## Builders versus lawmakers
The usual script has flipped. The companies are asking for brakes, and the politicians who would write the rules are refusing to touch them.
## Key takeaway

The industry's safety debate now runs into a political one, and in Washington the China race beats the pause every time.