OpenAI and Anthropic PBC employees are circulating a petition that calls on the US government to support a mechanism that would help “deliberately pace” AI development to prevent the technology from advancing too fast, days after the ChatGPT maker disclosed that its tools had mistakenly hacked another firm’s internal systems.

Staffers at leading AI labs have shared an open letter with colleagues urging the US to support an international effort that would help set the pace for building more sophisticated AI systems, if needed, according to people familiar with the matter and a copy of the petition viewed by Bloomberg News.

The document warns there is “a real risk” that AI progresses faster than people can “understand or control,” referencing advances in automating AI research. 

“The US government should support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development,” the petition reads. 

The call-to-action is expected to be made public as soon as this week, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. It’s unclear how many employees plan to sign it. OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment. 

The petition echoes recent calls from AI leaders, including OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, for a new international watchdog to vet and set standards for cutting-edge AI models. 

Anthropic has also previously suggested the creation of a system in which governments and AI developers could collectively decide when to slow work on AI to stave off risks. “It would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause” AI work that may be dangerous, the company said in June. 

Those suggestions followed heightened scrutiny of improvements in AI’s ability to field more complex tasks with limited human oversight, including spotting and potentially exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in critical software.

Last week, OpenAI said that its most advanced AI models hacked tech startup Hugging Face in an “unprecedented” incident. The disclosure prompted fresh calls for curbs on the technology.

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Published on July 29, 2026