The 'Pacing the Frontier' letter

The 'Pacing the Frontier' letter, published July 28, 2026, was signed by over 1,200 employees at major AI labs including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta. Its single request is for the US government to support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace frontier AI development in the future. The letter does not ask anyone to slow down immediately; it asks the US government to build the infrastructure that would make a deliberate slowdown possible later. One source described it as the most senior-signed AI governance statement to date, with signatories including Anthropic's CEO, OpenAI's chief scientist, and Meta's chief scientist. Signing is restricted to current employees of frontier AI companies. The letter argues that individual companies and countries face intense competitive pressure that prevents unilateral action, and that the world currently lacks the technical and governance tools to deliberately pace frontier-wide AI progress. OpenAI helped shape the petition's language, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told White House officials there is a 'need' to slow AI development as models grow more powerful. Separately, Geoffrey Irving, Chief Scientist of the UK AI Safety Institute, published a statement arguing it is irrational for anyone to be doing capabilities research at a frontier AI lab, rejecting the Prisoners Dilemma framing of AI competition.