Destroying Humanity Is Against the Law
Don’t wait for a mass-extinction event before holding AI developers accountable.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty; Julien De Rosa /AFP / Getty; Matt Ramey / AFP / Getty. September 16, 2026, 9:38 AM ET Share Save This weekend, the AI executives Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Dario Amodei agreed with the need to slow the pace of AI development. In light of the potentially apocalyptic capabilities of the products they have created, the AI titans would like a little more time to figure out how to safeguard the systems they have been rushing to build.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in